AsiaDHRRA and AFA jointly conducted the “Civil Society Government Dialogue: Possibilities of Working Together for Fairer Agricultural Trade” last March 1-2, 2005, at the Pinnacle Resort Hotel, Chonburi, Thailand. The dialogue was attended by 63 participants from 11 Asian countries –Leaders from farmers; organizations and non-government organizations working with the rural sector and representatives from government agencies dealing with WTO agricultural trade. It was supported by SEACA, Agriterra and OSI.
The dialogue sought to link civil society leaders with like minded government negotiators and share perspectives and proposals on how WTO trade rules can be made fairer and more beneficial to the small farmers and fishers.
The country trade negotiators and policy makers came from Cambodia (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries), Philippines (Department of Agriculture), South Korea (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry) and Thailand (Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives).
A set of recommendations and proposals prepared by the CSOs on the first day were forwarded by farmer and NGO leaders to the government negotiators. Governments were asked to learn from viable, on-ground, alternative development models of civil society groups, engage civil society in the trade negotiation processes and support small farmers as they deal with effects of WTO rules. Government negotiators told the civil society leaders that the proposals were too general and that they needed more specific ones. Yet, civil society leaders reminded them that they need to take on the “spirit “of the proposals and not be locked by details. Both CSO and governments were open for continuous dialogue with civil society being proactive in the process.
Click here to read the proceedings of the dialogue
Click here to download the proceedings of the dialogue (187 kb PDF)