NGOs prepare the ground for World Food Summit

Trade and the free market are high on the agenda NGOs voice concerns over food plan

As delegates of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from around the world discuss the draft Declaration and Global Plan of Action in Rome (19 to 21 September), ahead of the World Food Summit in November, a number of outstanding issues including trade liberalization head the agenda.

The Rome meeting is part of an on-going process that is nearly completed. Over the past year, NGO meetings and consultations have taken place to provide an input to preparations for the Summit. Some have been organized by NGOs on their own initiative. Others have been organized by FAO, in collaboration with local NGOs and regional NGO networks, to contribute directly to the FAO Regional Conferences for Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Near East.

Many of these meetings have provided important opportunities for organizations working in areas related to food security to express their concerns and reach consensus regarding the food security situation in their region, and to adopt recommendations and declarations for the Summit. These declarations and statements have been fed into the different phases of the intergovernmental negotiations on the draft Policy Statement and Plan of Action, which Heads of State and Governments are expected to sign at the Summit.

The forum
The NGO Forum for the World Food Summit, 11 to 17 November 1996

For details contact:

The Summit's World Wide Web pages
or on gopher at: gopher.fao.org