Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 7 • Number 39 • 19th November 2003
Miami FTAA Talks Off To Lukewarm Start
Trade negotiators from the Americas are currently gathered in Miami in preparation for the eighth Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Ministerial meeting from 20-21 November. The FTAA Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) has been meeting since 15 November, preparing a draft Ministerial Declaration, and an array of related activities are being organised by civil society under the auspices of the Americas Business Forum (ABF) and the Americas Forum on Trade and Sustainable Development (AFTSD).
The talks on the Draft Ministerial Declaration were preceded by a mini- ministerial summit held from 8-9 November (see BRIDGES Weekly, 13 November 2003), which failed to bridge gaps between key parties. The US and Brazil disagree over the scope of the talks, with the US seeking a comprehensive agreement and Brazil preferring an agreement without wide-ranging commitments in certain sensitive areas, such as intellectual property rights, investment or services. The US, on the other hand, has been unwilling to negotiate in an area of key concern to Brazil: agriculture.
The current Draft Declaration — kept at a general level — seeks to overcome these differences by outlining a two-tiered FTAA, with an opt- in option for countries wishing to sign on to a more comprehensive agreement (for a copy, see http://www.ictsd.org/issarea/Americas/FTAA_ministerial/miami/index.htm).
For further details on the meeting, including daily reports, see http://www.ictsd.org/issarea/Americas/FTAA_ministerial/miami/index.htm.
ICTSD reporting.