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GATT Trade Negotiations - Threat to Sustainable Agriculture and Development

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the GATT, is the international treaty setting out the rules of trade for most industrial goods and raw materials. Often shrouded in secrecy and obscured by arcane language, the GATT has recently become the center of attention for millions of people around the world whose lives and livelihoods appear to be threatened by the new round of trade negotiations taking place under the auspices of the GATT. This workshop will explore the history of the GATT, the background of the current round of negotiations and the major proposals under consideration, and will look at the potential impacts of these proposals and the organizing taking place to insure a positive outcome for these talks.

Speakers:

• Mark Ritchie (Moderator), trade analyst for Minnesota Department of Agriculture, 3838 Blaisdell Ave, So., Minneapolis, MN 55409; fax: (612) 339-0684; Executive Director, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, 1313 Fifth Street, S.E., Suite 303, Minneapolis, MN 55414, or P.O. Box 80066, Minneapolis, MN 55408; (612) 379-5980; fax: (612) 379-5982; Econet: iatp@igc.apc.org.

• Michelle Syverson, Third World Network and Environmental News Network (ENN), 1442A Walnut St., Suite 81, Berkeley, CA 94709; (510) 549-7768; (415) 524-0795. "Impact of GATT on Third World Sustainable Development." The current major GATT proposals and their potential implications for the Third world.

• Craig Merrilees, formerly with the National Toxics Campaign, 425 Mississippi St., San Francisco, CA 94107; (415) 826-5030; also, National media coordinator, Fair Trade Campaign, San Francisco; phone and fax: (415) 826-6314. "Impact of GATT on Ecologically Sustainable Development." The major GATT proposals and their potential implications for the environment.

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