MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Antarctic cruises

Orient Lines 826 passenger MV Marco Polo will offer five Antarctic cruise expeditions this coming December through February, according to the latest edition of AvNews.

In addition to Antarctica the 11 to 18 day sailings will visit the Falkland Islands, Chile's Fjords and South Georgia.

The MV Marco Polo is currently the lone large luxury liner offering cruises to Antarctica. Zodiac land excursions are featured.

In addition to a wide range of onboard amenities the ship has an ice-strengthened hull, and it's own helicopter to scout ice conditions. Prices start at 3,995 US dollars. Contact Orient Lines tollfree 800 333 7300 or www.otientlines.com.

Royal Princess will sail new waters for Princess Cruises in December 2003 when the ship inaugurates Antarctica. The inaugural 24 day South Atlantic, Antarctic and South America cruise will depart December 19th., and travel between Cape Town and Santiago taking in some of the least visited areas in southern Atlantic along the way.

The unique itinerary departs Cape Town and includes Tristan da Cunha, Antarctic channels and islands (Elephant Island, Esperanza Station, Deception & Sigma islands); Port Stanley, Ushuaia, cape Horn, Beagle Channel, Punta Arenas, Puerto Montt.

Early bookings for the Antarctic sailing begin at 3,695 UD dollars. Contact Princess tel: 800-Princess or www.princess.com.

Open Skies in Chile and Argentina

The Chilean Senate has approved the country's participation in the multi-national Open Skies Agreement signed by the United States, New Zeland, Singapour, Brunei and Peru in the framework of the APEC.

According to AvNews this is the first multinational agreement and Chile leads Latin America in ratifying the inclusion in the pact. Chile is also a leader in bilateral Open Skies which it enjoys with the United States, Belgium, Korea, Holland, Sweden, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Paraguay and is actively talking to Brazil, Peru and Colombia.

Another APEC member Peru announced that by December 2003 it will have an Open Skies agreement with Argentina. Meantime frequencies between the two countries will increase from the current seven to 21 weekly by next December, and 28 by July 2003.

Peru is also discussing Open Skies with Korea, and in the framework of APEC is part of the multi-national agreement with United States (besides a bilateral agreement), New Zeland, Singapore and Brunei. Free trade agreement closer United States expects to conclude this year negotiations with Chile for the definitive signing of a free trade agreement. "We should be ready to finish the agreement by the end of the year, that is our objective", said US Foreign Commerce representative Robert Zoellick who participated in the economic summit in Waco, Texas, convened by president Bush to boost confidence in the US economy battered by corporate scandals and slow growth. The recent approval by Congress of the Trade Promotion Authority, TPA, or "fast track" opened the way to conclude trade agreements with Chile and Singapore, the tow most advanced. However Mr. Zoellick pointed out that Congress will still proceed to analyze both agreements in 2003. According to TPA, the US Executive can negotiate trade agreements with other countries but Congress has only two options, approval or rejection, no modifications to the original text. "TPA will enable the Untied States to formalize bilateral, regional and global trade agreements", indicated Mr. Zoellick.