MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Consensus in Miami surprises demonstrators

Ministers from 34 countries of the Americas approved this Thursday the “Miami Declaration” which contemplates a more “flexible” Free Trade Association of the Americas, FTAA, agreement enabling negotiations to proceed in accordance with the 2005 timetable.

Given the consensus reached and the fact that the more conflictive issues were left for further on, the closure of the meeting was anticipated 24 hours helping to relieve the mounting pressure from thousands of demonstrators who gathered in Miami to protest against globalization and the FTAA.

The final resolution was drafted by Brazil and United States, co-chairs of the Negotiating Committee of the VIII FTAA Ministerial round.

"We finished before we expected,?because we learnt the Cancun lesson", said US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick in direct reference to the failed WTO meeting last September. "What we've agreed is written, and there's an issue that opens discussions on agriculture", indicated Celso Amorim, Brazil's Foreign Affairs Minister. "We're committed to reduce all our subsidies and also to jointly work on market access", added Mr. Zoellick.

The Miami Declaration states that countries will attempt to develop common responsibilities and rights, equally applicable to all countries. The issues involved in the resolution are: market access, agriculture, services, investments, intellectual property, competition policies, subsidies and anti dumping legislation.

However the declaration leaves aside controversial issues such as specific agriculture subsidies, government procurement, investment rules and compensatory rights.

Agreement on market access is scheduled to be reached September 2004 and the format of the resolution establishes a multi-speed FTAA with room for bilateral and pluri-lateral agreements between country members.

This opens the door for each country to address the more complicated issues on its own tempo, a mechanism that has been criticized as a "commitment of minimums".

"Public opinion and the media have the impression that in Miami we agreed on a "diluted" FTAA", admitted Argentine Trade Representative Martin Redrado, "but it's actually a skeleton that will help contemplate all sensitive issues". "We're now in the final discussions stage which is what matters and where we recognize that there are different realities and production structures".

In Argentina, President Nestor Kirchner promised "a great national debate on the FTAA" to decide "on which areas we should advance", depending on Argentina's and Mercosur's interests.

Mr. Redrado stressed that Argentina is not interested in a bilateral agreement with the US, a possibility contemplated in the Miami declaration, adding that "Brazil is our strategic partner; this is official government policy and priority".

However Mr. Redrado also emphasized that Argentina's trade policy does not exclude any scenario, and "FTAA is one of those scenarios".

Thousands of people concentrated early Thursday morning in several areas of downtown Miami while an unprecedented deployment of security forces kept close watch to impede attacks from demonstrators. Most shops in the area remained closed and their owners protected them with plywood and metal storm shutters similar to those during the hurricane season.