US President George W. Bush is expected to push for re-activitating the stalled talks on establishing a Free Trade Zone for the Americas at the Nov. 4-5 Summit of the Americas.

President Bush, while acknowledging plans for the comprehensive free trade zone in the Western Hemisphere were stalled, has insisted that the free trade zone is needed for the Americas.

Bush departed Washington early Thursday for Mar del Plata to attend the summit and will visit Brazil and Panama subsequently.

The president's father, former president George Bush, first proposed the establishment of the Free Trade Zone for the Americas in the 1990's and at the first Summit of the Americas in the United States in 1994, leaders and heads of governments from 34 countries who attended the summit agreed to set up such a free trade zone with January 2005 as the deadline.

However, talks on the Free Trade Zone for the Americas have been bogged down because of disagreements between the United States and countries like Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Source: Xinhua