The July deadline for negotiating the next stage of the Doha Development round was met by holding a 24 hour session in Geneva, ending the afternoon of July 31. The agreement includes a special commitment to address trade distortions in cotton, an agreement to address agricultural subsidies and a renewed commitment to technical assistance to developing countries.

The original deadline of January 1, 2005 to complete the Doha Development round was deferred with no new deadline set. The next ministerial meeting of the Doha round will take place in December 2005 in Hong Kong but is not set as a meeting to conclude the negotiations.

For the complete text of the “July Package” agreement, see http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dda_e/draft_text_gc_dg_31july04_e.htm

Please click here for the December 1, 2003 press release from CARICOM Trade Ministers/WTO Chief Interchange.

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The Eighth FTAA Ministerial in November 2003 in Miami ended with the commitment to continue the negotiations and proceed under the agreed deadline of January 2005.   The following points are included in the Ministerial Declaration  (see www.ftaa-alca.org for the full text):

The vision of the FTAA is to achieve an agreement that is comprehensive and balanced while addressing the issue of different levels of development and size of economies in the Hemisphere.  Taking this into account, Ministers recognized that countries may assume different levels of commitments.

Ministers were mindful that negotiations must aim at a balanced agreement that addresses the issue of differences in the levels of development and size of economies of the Hemisphere, through various provisions and mechanisms, paying special attention to the needs, economic conditions and opportunities of smaller economies.  The Trade Negotiating Committee (TNC), consisting of vice ministers of trade, received instructions to develop a common and balanced set of rights and obligations applicable to all countries.  The TNC was also instructed to establish procedures for the negotiation, on a plurilateral basis, of additional liberalization and disciplines, for countries that choose to do so.  Guidance on text issues included drafting proposals on the institutional structure of the FTAA agreement and specific steps needed to finalize text such as legal review and translation.  Ministers instructed market access negotiations to be completed by September 30, 2004.

Ministers also recognized that smaller and less developed economies will require financial support to assist in the process of adjustment resulting from hemispheric integration. They reiterated support for the Hemispheric Cooperation Program to provide assistance during the negotiations and for implementation of the agreement.

Ministers welcomed the growing number of contributions from civil society, and expressed interest in creating a civil society consultative committee within the institutional framework of the FTAA upon the agreement’s entry into force.   They announced that the present draft of the FTAA agreement is available to the public in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese on the official FTAA website.

The Tripartite Committee, consisting of OAS, IDB and ECLAC, was thanked for its technical support and the Government of Mexico for hosting the FTAA Administrative Secretariat during the negotiations. 

Ministers decided on future meetings of the Trade Negotiations Committee to be held in Puebla, Mexico, Panama City Panama and Trinidad and Tobago.  They received requests from eleven cities to host the permanent site of the FTAA Secretariat, seven in the US, two in Mexico, one each in Panama and Trinidad and Tobago. The next Ministerial meeting will be in Brazil in 2004. 

"Working together with the Inter-American Development Bank and the Secretariat for Economic Affairs of Mexico, the General Secretariat of the OAS has helped assure the non-interrupted flow of the negotiating process for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) as the negotiating venue shifted from Panama to Mexico in March 2003, under a schedule agreed to five years ago by Ministers responsible for trade in the Hemisphere. The GS/OAS has established a trust through which funds can be channeled to the FTAA Administrative Secretariat and it can have the legal capacity to operate in Mexico, thereby assuring continual logistical and administrative support to negotiators from the 34 participating countries. Moreover, the GS/OAS has also accredited the FTAA Administrative Secretariat's specialized international staff as GS/OAS associate staff in Mexico, so that they can enjoy privileges and immunities there. The negotiations in Mexico, directed by co-chairs Brazil and the United States, will consist of daily meetings of trade officials from across the Americas working to construct the FTAA, in which barriers to trade in goods and services, and investment will be progressively eliminated. Mexico will be the final negotiation site leading up to the projected January 2005 conclusion of the FTAA agreement. For more information consult the FTAA home page at http://www.ftaa-alca.org."

The VII Trade Ministerial Meeting took place November 1, 2002, in Quito, Ecuador, within the framework of negotiations towards the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement. Accomplishments noted since the sixth ministerial meeting included:  elaboration of a second draft of the FTAA agreement and its release to the public, the establishment of rules and timetables for market access negotiations, agreement on guidelines for the treatment of differences in levels of development and size of the economies and initiation of the Hemispheric Cooperation Program to assist countries in negotiations, implementation and adjustment to commitments within the FTAA process.  The next phase of negotiations include treatment of issues such as agriculture, labor, civil society and the institutional framework of the FTAA. The full ministerial declaration is available on http://www.sice.oas.org/FTAA/Quito/minis/minist_e.asp

The ministerial meeting as well as the preparatory vice ministerial meetings and negotiating group meetings were supported by the Tripartite Committee consisting of the OAS, the IDB and ECLAC as well as by the Administrative Secretariat in Panama. The chairmanship of the FTAA negotiations passed from Ecuador to co-chairs Brazil and the United States.  The final two Trade Ministerials are scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2003 in Miami, United States and in 2004 in Brazil.

The VII Foro Empresarial de las Americas was held immediately before the ministerial with the participation of over 900 business representatives from 34 countries.  A civil society forum entitled “Toward Civil Society Participation in the Americas” with about 75 participants also took place.  Both forums passed recommendations to the trade ministers in joint closing sessions. 

For remarks by the Secretary General of the OAS, Dr. Cesar Gaviria, please click here.
For remarks by the President of the Inter-American Development Bank, Dr. Enrique Iglesias, please click here.
For remarks by the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Mr. José Antonio Ocampo, please click here.  

For the latest issue of the Summits of the Americas Bulletin on trade, please click here. 

On June 10-21, 2002, the advanced training program, “Multilateral and Regional Trade Issues for the Americas,” took place at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.  The program, sponsored by the OAS, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Georgetown University, was offered to government officials from OAS Member States and other regional institution representatives in the area of trade policy and economic integration.  Participants focused on the Doha Development Agenda and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) process.  This is the fifth consecutive year the program has been offered to regional representatives.

For more on the OAS and the FTAA process, please click here.  

On July 26 and 27, 2002, the Second Meeting of Presidents of South America was held in the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador. In this meeting the Presidents adopted the "Guayaquil Consensus on Integration, Security and Infrastructure for Development". In it, the Presidents reiterated their will to continue promoting the coordination and cooperation actions towards the confirmation of a common space in South America. The "Guayaquil Consensus" focused on the acceleration of the agreements between the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) and Mercosur, in order to strengthen the capacity of management of these blocks. They also pledged that the conditions of the small countries be considered in the negotiations of the FTAA.

For more information on the Second Summit of South American Presidents please click here.

The Governments of Canada, the United States and Mexico announced the Seminar " FTAA Opportunities and Challenges for North America", which will take place on July 18, 2002 in the city of Mérida, Mexico. The objective of the seminar is to foster a forum for constructive dialogue, in which members of North American civil society organizations as well as government representatives involved in the FTAA process can participate.

This event addresses the Summit mandate "Foster through their respective national dialogue mechanisms and through appropriate FTAA mechanisms, a process of increasing and sustained communication with civil society to ensure that it has a clear perception of the development of the FTAA negotiating process; invite civil society to continue to contribute to the FTAA process..." This event, hosted by the Secretariat of Economy of Mexico, is aimed to achieve greater transparency and citizen participation in the Free Trade Area of the Americans negotiation process.

The Trade Unit was part of the seminar "Trade-Related Capacity Building: Focus on the Americas Conference and Donor Workshop," which took place from May 27-28, 2002, in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The seminar addressed the issues of Trade-Related Technical Assistance (TRTA) at the multilateral and regional level, best practices and strategies in trade capacity building, and models for developing institutional and human capacity in trade policy in the Western Hemisphere. Participants at the seminar also addressed the role of the FTAA Consultative Group on Smaller Economies in technical assistance, as well as its future challenges.

This seminar addresses the mandate urging the Tripartite Committee institutions to continue to respond positively to requests for technical support from FTAA entities. It also asks the institutions, according to their respective internal procedures, favorably consider requests for technical assistance related to FTAA issues from member countries, in particular from the smaller economies, in order to facilitate their integration into the FTAA process.

For more information on this meeting, please click here.

The Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM), in collaboration with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), has launched a Professional Trainee Programme 2002/2003.

This is an excellent opportunity for suitably qualified CARICOM nationals, who have a long-term career interest in international trade policy and negotiation issues, to acquire grounding in these areas and to assist in building the Region's expertise.

The Programme is a ten-month intensive training exercise, designed to equip eligible candidates with the skills and techniques of external trade negotiations taking place under the aegis of the World Trade Organization (WTO), with the European Union, and with countries of the Hemisphere toward a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

Specialized training will be carried out at several locations, including RNM offices in Jamaica and Barbados, and will also include a period of internship with regional or international organizations active in trade negotiation issues. The fellowship provides for living expenses, travel and tuition fees.

For the fifth consecutive year, the Organization of American States (OAS), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and Georgetown University are jointly sponsoring the Advanced Training Program “Multilateral and Regional Trade Issues for the Americas," with the financial support of the Government of the United States.  

The program is open to government officials and officials of regional institutions from OAS member countries, whose responsibilities are related to trade policy and economic integration. It will be offered in English on June 10-21, 2002 at the Washington-based campus of Georgetown University. 

The two-week program will address the main issues of the trade agenda from both a multilateral and regional perspective. It will focus on the Doha Development Agenda and the Free Trade of the Americas (FTAA) process. The program uses a large roster of speakers, drawing extensively from the WTO, the OAS Trade Unit, international and regional intergovernmental institutions, Georgetown University, as well as law firms and think tanks.  

For more information: http://www.sice.oas.org/cidi/train02_e.htm.

On February 27, 2002, the World Trade Organization Director-General Mike Moore and the Inter-American Development Bank President Enrique V. Iglesias signed a memorandum of understanding, with which their institutions will seek to deepen cooperation to provide technical assistance on trade negotiations and capacity-building to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

The document was signed at IDB headquarters in Washington, D.C., following a meeting of Latin American and Caribbean trade and finance officials on the challenges their region faces in multilateral negotiations and commitments under WTO agreements and in negotiating and implementing the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA).

For more information please click here.  
FTAA Draft Agreement - Now Publicly Available

One of the FTAA-related Summit mandates is to implement the Trade Minister-approved business facilitation measures. The FTAA public website has just posted the most recent version of the matrix they produce to show the status of implementation and to describe technical assistance needs.  To see this matrix, please click here.

On September 26-28, 2001, the IX Meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee took place in Managua, Nicaragua. It was the first meeting of the TNC since the Trade Ministers Meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Discussions focused on progress to date in all Negotiating Groups, treatment of smaller economies in the FTAA, and civil society.  The Permanent Mission of Nicaragua before the OAS also presented a report on the outcomes of the Ninth Meeting of the FTAA Trade Negotiations Committee, which is now available on the Web.

On September 10, 2001, the Permanent Representative of Costa Rica and Chair of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States, Ambassador Hernán R. Castro H., submitted to the Secretary General the Semiannual Progress Report of the General Secretariat on the Activities of the Trade Unit (OEA/Ser.G CP/doc.3516/01). The report outlines in detail the activities of the Unit, including personnel allocations, budget and financing. To access the full document, please click here. 

In anticipation of the IX Inter-American Meeting of Vice-Ministers of Trade to be held next Wednesday in Managua, Nicaragua, 35 civil society groups and unions announced their intentions to stage peaceful protests to express concern with FTAA and its effect on the Nicaraguan economy. An alternative FTAA roundtable will be held and an alternative FTAA plan will be submitted to Vice Ministers prior to the meeting.

The United States and Mercosur countries held a meeting today to promote free trade between both parties. The meeting resulted in the creation of working groups on investment growth, electronic commerce, agricultural trade and industrial trade. Each country selected a coordinator for the 4+1 process. In addition to a ministerial meeting before the end of the year, the five countries also agreed upon a schedule towards a final 4+1 trade agreement that would further liberalize trade in the hemisphere and add momentum to the FTAA process. The five countries also committed to launching an ambitious round of talks at the World Trade Organization meeting in Doha, Qatar, and at creating a better trade system for agricultural products.

At their Sixth Meeting held in Buenos Aires, on April 7, 2001, the Ministers Responsible for Trade of the Hemisphere reaffirmed the commitment to the principle of transparency in the FTAA process and recognized the need for increasing participation of the different sectors of civil society.  Thus, an open invitation was made to civil society to participate in this round of FTAA negotiations.

On 12 and 13 May, the Second Session of the X Meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee of the Free Trade Area of the Americas was held in Panama. It was presided over by Ambassador Roberto Betancourt, Ecuadorian Vice-Minister.

This fundamental meeting defined the methods and modalities for future negotiations.

The approval of this far-reaching agreement will, in the short term, allow for presidential and ministerial mandates to be carried out to achieve the creation of the hemispheric free trade zone.

May 15 was ratified as the date for the start of trade negotiations. The process will begin with the updating of the Hemispheric Database and will include the following stages:

Presentation of bids from all sectors: 31 December 2002 - 15 February 2003.
Presentation of requests for the improvement of bids: 16 February - 15 June 2003.
Start of the bid review process: 15 July 2003

The hemisphere’s small economies will receive technical assistance for the presentation of bids as required, and will be granted extended deadlines to comply with certain commitments.

In addition, the hemisphere’s Vice-Ministers responsible for Trade took several decisions to facilitate the FTAA process in the areas of agricultural and non-agricultural goods, services, investment and public sector purchases.

Since the Summit Meeting held in Miami in December 1994, the hemisphere’s countries have been committed to the establishment of a Free Trade Area of the Americas with effect from January 2005. By decision of the participating countries, Ecuador presides over the negotiating process of the FTAA from May 2001 to October 2002. The presidency of the FTAA will be jointly assumed by Brazil and the United States following the Ministerial Meeting to be held in Quito.

Panama, 13 May 2002
Source: Government of Ecuador

For more information on the FTAA process, please click here.

On July 22, 2004, at the Organization of  American States in Washington, DC, the Summits of the Americas Secretariat held a seminar, “Remittances in Latin America and the Caribbean:  Issues and Perspectives on Development”, in the context of monitoring Summit implementation.
   
At the Special Summit of the Americas in Monterrey, México held on January 12-13, 2004, Heads of State and Government signed the Declaration of Nuevo Leon, in which they made the commitment to work together to eliminate regulatory obstacles that affect the cost of these transfers and to reduce their average costs by at least half by 2008.

In this context, the Summits of the Americas Secretariat of the OAS contracted a paper on the issue from Georgetown University specialist Manuel Orozco.  Issues addressed at the seminar included: an analysis of  the present remittances market; the growing demand for transfer services; social, cultural and economic consequences of remittance flows; consumer education for the users of transfer services; options for regulation and incentives to encourage lower costs and more accessible services for low income customers;  and examination of specific country cases.  Overall, the discussion reflected the leaders’ goal of linking remittances to successful development.
  
The discussion panel included: Carla Decker, CEO District Government Employees Federal Credit Union; Ernesto Armenteros, President Grupo Quisqueyana / Cashpin, in Dominican Republic; Héctor David Córdova Arteaga, Manager FEDECACES, El Salvador and Maria Otero, President Acción International. Ambassador Abigaíl Castro de Pérez, Permanent Representative of Salvador to the OAS closed the panel which was moderated by Dr. Irene Klinger, Executive Secretary, Summits of the Americas Secretariat.

More than seventy participants attended this event which included representatives from financial institutions such as banks, financial associations, embassies, civil society organizations and academics, Drawn from the local community as well as from New York City, Atlanta, Miami, Newark.

Comments by Daniel I. Ayala, Senior Vice President, Well Fargo BankCross Border Payments Manager
Presentation by Ambassador Abigail Castro De Pérez, Permanent Mission of El Salvador to the OAS

The First Hemispheric Meeting on Corporate Social Responsibility was held in Miami on September 22 - 24th, 2002, under the auspices of Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Organization of American States (OAS) and the World Bank.

The Conference took place in compliance with a mandate adopted at the Third Summit of the Americas and resolution GA/RES. 1871 (XXXII-O/02), "Promotion of the Corporate Social Responsibility in the Hemispheric" adopted at the General Assembly in Bridgetown, Barbados.

The Conference was attended by nearly 500 representatives from the private sector, multilateral institutions, academia, government, civil society and the media. In 12 sessions spanning over two days, 84 speakers took the floor. Thirty-two countries participated in this conference, 25 of them were from the region.  50 % of the participants were women.

The General Secretary of the OAS, César Gaviria; the IDB President, Enrique V. Iglesias; the President of Nicaragua, Enrique Bolaños; the US State Sub-secretary for the Western Hemisphere, Otto Reich; the vice-president of the World Bank for Latin America and the Caribbean, David de Ferranti; the executive vice-president Peter Woicke; and the Director for Latin America and the Caribbean of the International Financial Corporation, Bernard Paquier, among others, participated in the conference.

Participants discussed building alliances for local and community economic development with civil society through new philanthropy and volunteerism; the business as a role model for business; the role of supranational organizations; and the media.

The conference organizers noted that by mobilizing the synergies between different sectors of society, the conference participants laid down the foundations for a closer relationship, particularly with the business sector, to face social problems and fight poverty in the region.

For more information, please click here: http://www.iadb.org/csramericas/

For a detailed report on this meeting, please click here.

On April 11, 2002, the OAS - Working Group on Probity and Public Ethics held a Special Session on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Washington. The Session gave Permanent Representatives and alternates of the 34 Member States a better understanding of what CSR is and why is it important to the Summit of the Americas mandate. Through presentations from CSR practitioners from Canada, USA, Peru and Ecuador and through Member States contributions, the participants learned about what the private sector is already doing in the region and gained a good understanding of how government can be supportive of CSR. The Session was successful in solidifying Member States support for the upcoming CSR conference in Miami.