US efforts to revive FTAA unlikely to succeed

Arguments rather than agreements are expected to emerge at the Fourth Summit of the Americas, due on Friday and Saturday at Mar del Plata, Argentina, when the issue of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is addressed.

US President George W. Bush is expected to attend the summit and promote the FTAA, a continental trade liberalization pact which was supposed to come into effect this year but delayed largely due to disputes between the United States and Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela.

The US efforts to revive the FTAA at the coming summit are not likely to gain much support, as Latin American countries differ on the issue.

In search for alternatives to the the FTAA, Chile has become the second Latin American country, after Mexico, to reach a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States. Chile seeks to go beyond the recipes of the FTAA, which originated in 1994 and focuses on free trade and macroeconomic balance.

"Citizens not only want democracy, but a democracy that responds in a concrete way to their demands," said Chilean President Ricardo Lagos.

Besides Chile, other Latin American nations have sought their own ways for integration development, and have promoted projects in the South American Community of Nations (CSN), the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR) and the Andean Community (ANCOM). Some members believe they can play a key role rather than a secondary one as in the FTAA.

Venezuela, an opponent of the FTAA, promotes specific integration projects with South America and the Caribbean as part of its so-called "Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas (ALBA)" project.

"The FTAA is dead. It will have to be buried," said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Sunday on TV. "The people of the continent will bury it, and another model of integration will emerge."

Brazil and Argentina demanded the elimination of agricultural subsidies for American farmers as a precondition to continue talks on the FTAA.

As the host of the summit, Argentina has proposed "creating jobs to cope with poverty and strengthen democratic governance" as the motto of the summit. It would be difficult to include the FTAA in the final declaration of the summit, said Argentine diplomatic officials.

If the FTAA were to come into effect, it would group 34 countries of the continent, representing an economy of 13 trillion US dollars and a population of 800 million.

Ecuador, Colombia and Peru have begun FTA negotiations with the United States, to develop more trade with the superpower as part of their growth strategy.

The United States is also expected to promote free trade via bilateral agreements with Canada, Mexico, Chile, Central America and the Dominican Republic if no progress is made on the FTAA.

Source: Xinhua