Any trade agreement must guarantee the food sovereignty and security of the peoples, becasue food is a basic and fundamental human right. Food must be safe, accessible and provide a fair and adequate return to its primary producer. Farming, livestock production, fishing and agro-forestry must be practiced in concert with public policies that protect and respect the rights of the men and women of the land, including farmers, farm workers and indigenous peoples, and also protect and respect their use of natural resources such as air, water, soil, biodiversity, knowledge of genetic resources, right to land and forms of collective community land rights.

The agricultural policies put into practice by hte governments of the Western Hemisphere must encourage and ensure the existence of indigenous people, family farmers and other people who labour on the land. They must limit the export and import of significant quantities of foods which destroy our local economies and put at risk our health and our environment. Consequently, governments should promote organic agriculture and prohibit the use of transgenic food products. In addition, we should seek equitable development, given the profound inequality among our peoples, rather than promoting "free trade" which is unequal by nature. The governments of the Western Hemisphere must recognize htat the current policies of the World Trade Organization and regional trade agreements have served to concentrate power and wealth in the hands of a few transnational corporations and have deepened the poverty and dependence of our peoples.

We will not tolerate injustice and destruction caused by such policies. Our struggle has a long and noble history, and we are determined.