MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Rapprochement in FTAA meeting

A decade after the United States launched the idea of creating a Free Trade Association of the Americas, FTAA, encompassing from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, the 34 nations of the region (except Cuba) are beginning to approach a consensus on the terms for the January 2005 deadline.

The current deputy ministerial meeting taking place in Puebla seems to confirm that focus which the previous ministerial meeting in Miami last November helped create with a more flexible negotiations mechanism.

According to Brazilian leading negotiator Regis Arslanian, differences which once seemed vast have now become mere "language" nuances. "The basic alignments are very similar," points out Mr. Arslanian, thanks to the mechanism of flexible negotiations agreed in Miami.

"Miami reversed the situation and made it possible for us to begin working" on the specifics of the pact. In Miami, Trade, Economy and Foreign ministers approved a "flexible" hemispheric trade agreement - sometimes referred to as a "light FTAA".

The Miami Declaration left aside references to the most complicated trade matters, including agricultural subsidies, public sector purchasing and rules governing investment, competition policies, anti-dumping laws and compensatory measures. However it also included participants' intention "to develop obligations and common rights ... applicable to all the countries."

"We're all headed in the same direction ... we're leaving behind the 'impasse' that had prevented more significant advances in the construction of a hemispheric free trade area in recent years." Brazil's new attitude is extremely important, since it was one of the countries most critical of the U.S.-proposed free trade plan.

At the Puebla meeting's opening session, the co-chairman of the FTAA process, Brazilian diplomat Adhemar Bahadian, highlighted recent agreements and progress, and emphasized the prevailing willingness to move forward on the accord. He also called on his colleagues to be pragmatic and strive for a "harmonious, constructive and successful meeting to break the deadlock in FTAA negotiations once and for all."

The two groups most at odds over the ultimate shape of the FTAA are Mercosur - a block comprising Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay - and a U.S.-led faction of thirteen countries that includes Canada, Mexico, Chile and Costa Rica.

The two sides presented proposals which agree on several points, but differences remain and must be worked out in Puebla, according to Argentina's top trade official, Martin Redrado.

While Washington and its allies eased their demands on transparency and intellectual property, Mercosur countered with a proposal that offered concessions on competition policy and other points of contention.

Mercosur's proposal includes compromises on issues of "dumping," or other unfair trade practices, and compensatory measures, Argentina's Redrado said. But the proposal on market access - and demand for the elimination of farm subsidies - clashes with U.S. interests.

However Brazil's representative played down these differences, emphasizing that both proposals "are very close because they take the Miami mandate very much into account."