MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Miami pushing to become seat of FTAA Secretariat

Miami, which is competing with ten other cities to become the permanent seat of the Free Trade Area of the Americas, FTAA, Secretariat, officially presented this Monday its proposal.

Florida governor Jeb Bush, (President George Bush brother) was responsible for the presentation before the delegations of United States and Brazil.

The public and private sectors of Florida offered two different places for establishing the Secretariat: Coconut Grove Expo Center a downtown shopping area close to City Hall and Watson Island, in a bay next to Miami Beach.

According to the proposal between 12 and 16 million US dollars will have to be invested to buy the land and build the Secretariat, money which must be supplied by Miami, the state of Florida and the private sector.

According to the documentation, Miami highlighted the excellent air and sea communications system with the rest of Latinamerica and the Caribbean; cultural diversity of the city; abundance of professional multilingual staff; good infrastructure and geographical advantages. Besides, telecommunications facilities, low crime, and strong business and banking links with the region plus abundance of hotels and other facilities.

Governor Bush stressed that the dynamic and long standing trade relation of Miami with the region means "Miami is in an enviable position, full of advantages and benefits for country members of FTAA". Mr. Bush recently toured Central America to promote Miami but only received formal support from Nicaragua. In 2003, Uruguayan president Jorge Batlle committed his country's backing for Miami.

The other competing cities are Atlanta, Colorado Springs, Chicago, Houston, Galveston, San Juan Puerto Rico, Cancún and Puebla in Mexico, Panama City in Panama and Port Spain in Trinidad Tobago.

Once the FTAA is officially constituted, extending from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego including the 34 countries of the three Americas, (with the exception of Cuba) it will become the world's greatest market with 800 million people and a combined GDP equivalent to 14 trillion US dollars.