MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

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Headlines:
FTAA timetable in doubt;
Ample support for President Kirchner;
Buenos Aires and Montevideo among the cheapest cities.

FTAA timetable in doubt

A ministerial meeting held in the United States with the purpose of advancing the Free Trade Association of the Americas negotiation process ended without any final agreement confirming several countries doubts about the FTAA timetable. The gathering with Inter-american Development Bank president Enrique Iglesias acting as moderator convened six South American ministers, two from Central America, three from the Caribbean, and three from North America. "We had an exhaustive discussion regarding the transition period that countries must face once FTAA is implemented, how to increase competitiveness and productivity, macroeconomic adjustments and infrastructure improvement", said a US source present at the meeting who admitted that "no agreement or resolution was reached". "The most important about the meeting was that it gave us a realistic vision of what can be achieved", said Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister Celso Amorim. In the meeting held at the Wye River Plantation in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, apparently the fourteen participants were split into almost equal number groups, one that believes the 2005 timetable will be reached and those who propose something less ambitious. United States and Chile figure among the first and Brazil leads the other group, however the US source indicated that all participants confirmed their commitment to the original timetable. But there was also a feeling that in the coming 34 countries FTAA ministerial summit to be held in November in Miami, an initiative to extend the timetable could also be on the table. The Miami ministerial gathering will be followed by a last meeting in June 2004 in Brazil, who shares with the United States the presidency of the negotiating table in the crucial last leg of the route map leading to the 2005 target.

Ample support for President Kirchner

According to a public opinion poll published last Sunday in the Buenos Aires press, Argentine president Nestor Kirchner has a 75,2% positive image and only 3,9% negative. This seems quiet an extraordinary achievement given the fact that the relatively unknown former governor of the province of Santa Cruz took office with 22% of popular vote. The poll taken by Equis in metropolitan Buenos Aires also revealed that 66,2% of those interviewed support the cabinet named on May 25 and an ever larger percentage agree with many of the significant measures decided by President Kirchner. With crime, violence, kidnapping rampant in Argentina's major cities, the removal of the top brass of the Argentine Federal Police received an 86,3% approval and similarly sending 44 top officers of the Armed Forces to early retirement 79,8% support. An overwhelming majority of Argentines, 85,2%, support the decision to review the privatization contracts of former government managed utilities as well as the renewal of management concessions of the country's main highways. Regarding foreign policy 73,1% of those interviewed believe in "cooperation, but not cohabitation" with United States, and 63,8% approve of the regional strategy that gives priority to Brazil and strengthening Mercosur. Equis concludes that the optimistic attitude towards President Kirchner responds to the perception of a very energetic administration, and a head of government, who with minimum coverage travels to the different provinces to solve problems, ignores protocol and addresses long delayed issues. The interviews were done during the first twenty days of President Kirchner among 960 people living in the city of Buenos Aires and its metropolitan area.

Buenos Aires and Montevideo among the cheapest cities.

Hong Kong was replaced by Tokyo as the world's most expensive city; London keeps leading in Europe, while Buenos Aires, Bogotá, Asunción and Montevideo, together with Sao Paulo and Rio do Janeiro figure at the other end among the ten cheapest cities of the world. Mercer Human Resources, a London based consulting company publishes an annual ranking of 144 cities considering the prices of 200 items among which transport, food, lodging and clothing. The ranking is used by corporations to determine retribution levels in different cities and countries. New York is taken as reference, and this year figures in tenth place having dropped from seventh pushes aside by several European cities and the strong Euro. Rome jumped from 99 to 41 and Milan from 63 to 17, Paris form 74 to 23, while Moscow remains in second place followed by Osaka, Beijing, Geneva and London. At the other extreme of the list is Asunción del Paraguay, next to Harare, Bogotá and Buenos Aires. Montevideo in twelve months dropped from position 103 to 139 and Buenos Aires from 133 to 141. The financial crisis of 2001/2002 that had a devastating effect in all Mercosur country members has turned the region's cities into the cheapest in US dollars. In the US, New York tops the ranking followed by Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago and San Francisco.