September 2011: The 18-country Inter-American Commission on Organic Agriculture (known by its Spanish acronym, CIAO) held its third annual meeting, to examine progress toward a Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) regional normative agreement on organic agriculture and discuss other issues affecting development and trade in the sector.

On the agenda for the CIAO meeting, held from 5-8 September 2011, in Asunción, Paraguay, was a discussion of progress made in drafting a regional agreement on harmonizing rules on the production, processing and marketing of organic agricultural products. The regional effort was prompted by separate sub-regional harmonization efforts already underway among the countries of the Central American Integration System (SICA) and the Andean Community (CAN).

CIAO also examined progress toward creating a regional assessment instrument to characterize the capabilities of national organic production control systems and identify those areas requiring improvement. Negotiations are using the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture’s (IICA) Performance, Vision and Strategy (DVE) instrument for agricultural health and food safety as a model. IICA is a specialized affiliate of the Organization of American States (OAS), and serves as the technical secretiat for CIAO.

The CIAO meeting also discussed, among other issues: principles, legislation and control for organic animal production; organic agriculture issues in the Codex Alimentarius; alternative guarantee systems for organic products; and public certification.

The CIAO was created in 2008 by the LAC Agriculture Ministers via the IICA Executive Committee. Member countries include Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. [Publication: IICA Conexión]