Presentation by Kristin Dawkins for the Seminar on GATT and WTO in Schwerin, Germany, January 8, 1999.

The US government has three clear goals for the WTO agriculture negotiations:

1- Continued support for the agribusiness agenda-the production of cheap raw materials and growth of market share.

2- To force acceptance of genetically modified organisms throughout the world.

3- To impose tight disciplines on state trading enterprises (by eliminating monopoly controls over imports and exports) even though us agriculture is dominated by monopolies and oligopolies.

Internationally, a vast network of organizations, farmers and civil society has come together in preparation for the Third Ministerial and the agriculture negotiations that will follow. Although many proposals have been put forward, central to all of them is the belief that food self-sufficiency and local productive capacity are essential for true food security.