ObiWan
May the Brew be with you
found on http://www.pina.com.fj/index.php?p=pacnews&m=read&o=8296931725463fd70748ae80342e66 :
another article found here: http://www.pina.com.fj/?p=pacnews&m=read&o=167971615754640205d96b8e3639f06:38 pm GMT+12, 12/11/2014, Vanuatu
A major breakthrough has been achieved in Brussels for Pacific kava within the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group.
Kava has been accepted as the fourth item in the ACP commodity programme for 2015-2020. The other three commodities are sugar, cotton and banana.
The good news was shared by Vanuatu’s Ambassador to the European Union, Roy Mickey Joy in an exclusive interview with the Vanuatu Times this week.
“For the last 30 years, ACP and the European Union (EU) have given so much attention to sugar through the Sugar Protocol, the cotton producing countries in Africa and bananas. Now I wish to confirm at this stage that kava from the Pacific region has been accepted as the fourth item in the whole ACP commodity program beginning in 2015-2020, said Ambassador Joy.
This decision means that kava from the Pacific will be given equal treatment as other commodities in terms of program funding from the EU.
“They will treat kava equally as they treat and give financial support to sugar and bananas in the Caribbean and cotton from five producing countries in West Africa.
“Never before have we seen kava come to this stage, an excited Ambassador Joy told the Vanuatu Times.
With the breakthrough in Brussels, the Vanuatu diplomat urged kava producers in Vanuatu and the Pacific to plant noble varieties for export to European markets.
“The only challenge now is for our local industry in Vanuatu. The Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Trade and the Chamber of Commerce need to come together to start organising themselves.
“They need to play their part and be part of the entire process otherwise we can have legislations and the work done, but if the industry is not prepared, we won’t be able to fulfill the aspirations that are expected from this important work we’re doing outside.
Ambassador Roy said kava farmers should plant in earnest to meet the demand and benefit from the envisaged increase in price.
“I want to encourage the farmers to continue to plant even more kava, because the future is looking bright for them with how things are evolving now in regard to this commodity. They should plant more to prepare for the opening that the EU and the world market outside will take into kava.
Ambassador Roy was bold in his prediction that kava is the future of Vanuatu.
“I think it is high time that we, policy makers assist in preparing the enabling environment to facilitate trade and business in the kava trade. I think the general economic trend would see a large increase of the pricing of kava locally between the islands into the urban centres in Port-Vila and Luganville and also in the export market. The farmers will be able to make enough money out of their kava products for the first time. And we could also expect an increase of the kava price in the Nakamals (kava bars) in Port-Vila and Luganville, said Ambassador Roy.
Vanuatu has been instrumental in pushing for the inclusion of kava as a recognised commodity of the ACP.
“We worked really hard with the EU to convince them to recognise kava as an emerging commodity for Pacific Islands Kava producing countries, said the Brussels based diplomat.
The renewed interest in kava, especially from producers in the Pacific exports came after the German company BfArM’s lifted its ban on kava in June this year.
SOURCE: VANUATU TIMES/PACNEWS
and a third one here: http://pidp.eastwestcenter.org/pireport/2014/June/06-25-13.htmExclusive interview with His Excellency Roy Mickey Joy on the Kava dossier
By Online Editor
6:57 pm GMT+12, 12/11/2014, Vanuatu
By Jean-Baptise Calo
Vanuatu Times: Your Excellency, you’ve been pushing the kava dossier for the last decade or so. And the Vanuatu government also through the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly raised the kava issue at many international meetings. After positive results of the Independent European Research team on kava, the German Federal Court has finally handed out its judgment in favour of the lifting of the kava ban in Europe. And today kava is recognised as an official product of the ACP group. Can you elaborate on that?
His Excellency Roy Mickey Joy: Two things have happened since our ministerial meeting held in March 2012. We went back to Brussels we worked with the ACP Secretariat. We worked really hard with the EU to convince them to recognise the issue of Kava as an emergent commodity for Pacific Islands Kava producing countries. On the one hand we have secured through the ACP-EU technical balance to Trade BMU, a global some of 400 0000 Euros for the second study on Kava dynamics which is going to be launched in Brussels in the next few weeks. The experts would be based in Vanuatu and they would cover Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, the friends of Kava. These are comprehensive studies. On one hand, the study will look at the current ban, the signs, the analysis done by the laboratory that is going to be recognised and authenticated. And secondly, it will look at the trade policy area, where to move the kava dossier from where we are in this point in time. The expert who has spent more than 20 years in kava research, Dr Vincent Lebot will be part of consultancy team who will help the Pacific island countries to carry out that kava scientific study for seven months. After the completion of the scientific research, a ministerial meeting will be convened here in Port-Vila Vanuatu. A meeting in which the global players and actors, the private sector, the exporters and the farmers will come together and decide on the new roadmap of the kava production and development in the Pacific. We are going to work with national and regional organisations to agree on new mechanism for the pricing of kava as a commodity.
And thirdly, Vanuatu will have to use the base of the study to redefine the legislation of how kava should be consumed, used and utilised commercially in Vanuatu. So that we give back the level of ownership to our farmers but largely we protect kava as a product of the people of this country. Naturally and economically yes, we will see a relatively increase in Kava price locally and internationally. The farmers will be paid the price due to them. Exporters will be able to generate enough commercial benefits of kava. But lastly and importantly, the Vanuatu people through the government and through Parliament and through the farmers will be able to administer, regulate and look at the scope of kava as a commodity that will take this country in the next 20 years.
There has never been so much work done over kava in the last 34 years until we came into the scene. And this is one of the direct work of the embassy of Vanuatu in Brussels to take the Kava dossier to the global scene as it has never been seen before. At the beginning of this year we made a submission to the ACP Secretariat in Brussels. The ACP Secretariat is at the moment reviewing and redefining the scope of its work on commodity programs. For the last 30 years, ACP and EU have given so much attention to sugar through the Sugar Protocol, the cotton producing countries in Africa and bananas. Now I wish to confirm at this stage, kava from the Pacific region has now been accepted now has the fourth items in the whole ACP commodity program beginning in 2015-2020.
Vanuatu Times: What does that mean?
His Excellency Roy Mickey Joy: It means that while ACP and EU are trying to sort out their own funding and program activities for the next few years, they will also be able to treat kava equally as they treat and give financial support to sugar and bananas in the Caribbean and cotton from 5 producing countries in West Africa. So never before we’ve seen kava come to this stage. The only challenge now is our local industry in Vanuatu. The Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Trade and the Chamber of Commerce need to come together to start organising themselves on the challenges that are going to come about as the result of these studies. They need to play their part and be part of the entire process otherwise we can have legislations but if the industry is not prepared, we’ll not be able to fulfill the aspirations expected from this important work we’re doing outside. My advice to the kava farmers is to plant more noble varieties of kava recommended by the Ministry of Agriculture, Trade and Chamber of Commerce. They should plant more because when the increase of the kava prices comes, we’ll have an influx in the market. I want to encourage the farmers to continue to plant even more kava, because the future is looking bright for them with how things are evolving now in regard to this commodity. They should plant more to prepare for the openings that the EU and the world market outside will take into kava. Kava is has special properties and should not be abused. Kava is the future of this country. This country depends on kava. I think it is high time that we, policy makers assist in preparing the enabling environment to facilitate trade and business in the kava trade. I think the general economic trend would see a large increase of the pricing of kava locally between the islands into the urban centres in Port-Vila and Luganville and also in the export market. The farmers will be able to make enough money out of their kava products for the first time. And we could also expect an increase of the kava price in the Nakamals (kava bars) in Port-Vila and Luganville.
SOURCE: VANUATU TIMES/PACNEWS
I posted the full articles here, because no one knows how long the links remain onlineWith Ban Lifted, Kava To Be Included In ACP Commodity Discussions
Vanuatu welcomes German court decision to allow imports
By Len Garae
PORT VILA, Vanuatu (Vanuatu Daily Post, June 24, 2014) – German company BfArM’s lifting of the kava ban in Europe this month in line with a German Administrative Court decision, means the Pacific Island Kava product will now be accorded full political consideration and significance by the ACP Committee of Ambassadors and Council, and will therefore be treated equally to traditional ACP products such as Sugar, Bananas and Cotton – which have enjoyed certain preferential treatment in the past Protocols and are internationally recognized and respected.
The decision for the removal of the Kava ban by the German court notwithstanding the inclusion of Kava into the new Commodity work program is an outcome and a testimony of the sterling leadership and commitment that Vanuatu’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the European Union, Roy Mickey Joy and his mobilization of the ACP MTS Project Management Unit in 2012, the unconditional support from the FratiniVergan Law Firm, Dr. Mathias Schmidt and our own Dr. Vincent Lebot –have collectively accomplished over and above a 6 years period of hard and unprecedented consultations, research and passion on the Pacific Kava dossier.
The Government of the Republic of Vanuatu has successfully tabled and pushed the long standing issue concerning the marketing and promotion of the unique Pacific Islands Kava product to be recognised and accepted as a new commodity item into a newly established ACP Commodity Work Programme and endorsed by the ACP – EU Joint Council of Minister’s at their recent 39TH session meeting being convened in Nairobi, Republic of Kenya between June 17 and 20.
In a powerful and moving statement addressed to the Council of Ministers, Minister Kilman called upon the ACP and the EU to acknowledge, recognise and embrace the recent ruling of the German Federal Court declaring the Kava ban on the Pacific Kava as unlawful, un-acceptable and totally inappropriate.
He said since the initial EU ban imposed on the Pacific Islands Kava exports way back in 2002- the poor farmers, the rural communities and the small holders owning large plantations of kava plants in the entire Pacific Regions and their Island economies have been the direct victims from the German unilateral decision and have as a result, suffered significantly from export losses, decline in foreign exchange earnings, unemployment and a major setback in the rural communities as a direct repercussion of the loss of market access in the selected European Capitals including Germany, France and Switzerland, to name a few.
This decision to welcome and integrate the Pacific Kava product into the newly established ACP Commodity Work Program which is being developed as part of a enhanced and revamped ACP effort in the 11th EDF programming, is seen as a fundamental point of departure for this Island drink and welcomed by the ACP/ EU Council of Ministers as reflected in the 2014 ACP Council Decision’.
The Government of Vanuatu is presently liaising with both the ACP Secretariat in Brussels and the CTA / Centre for Tropical Research in Agriculture & Development in the Netherlands – one of the Joint ACP/ EU arms of Cooperation with a view to the convening of a Pacific ACP Ministerial Meeting on Kava – with the shared responsibility for the " Pacific Friends of Kava" to converge and consider a new Kava Strategy after the result of the German ban as well as re- think a " road map on Pacific " kava in the context of the changing EU market environment.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs was accompanied to the recent ACP/ EU Joint Council of Ministers Meeting by Director General for Trade, Commerce and Tourism Marakon Alilee and Ambassador Joy.
Vanuatu Daily Post
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