Although the next Multi-stakeholder platform (MSP) meeting was planned for 18 to 20 September 2012, the FAO Secretariat has come to the conclusion that there hasn’t been enough progress in clarifying the functions of the Agenda and its secretariat, or in the development of concrete action programme “delivery options”.

The Secretariat has thus decided, with the agreement of the Interim Preparatory Committee (IPC) chairs and out Nairobi hosts AU/IBAR and ILRI, to postpone the meeting to 15, 16 and 17 January 2013.

Please mark your calendars accordingly!

The FAO Secretariat will now organize an additional IPC meeting on 18 and 19 September 2012 , in Rome, Italy. This meeting will be crucial in the shaping of the Agenda as it will clarify the Agenda and secretariat functions, plus the associated governance options, that will need to be developed further.

The outcomes of this September IPC meeting, will equally facilitate the Secretariat to more fully explore opportunities for higher level buy-in from within FAO: There is considerable interest in working through multiple stakeholders under the new leadership of the organization, and getting their explicit support would allow the Secretariat to drive the Agenda process more effectively. Moreover, it will also allow the Secretariat  to seek additional advice, if required, from outside the Agenda stakeholders to share experiences and get ideas from similar initiatives in other sectors. The extra time, the additional IPC meeting and consultations will thus put us in a better position to present concrete “delivery options” for the Agenda to the next MSP meeting in January 2013.

As per usual, we will distribute and post the relevant documents on the Agenda’s website. We look forward to your continued participation.

The Livestock Dialogue team