FTAA process stalls as trade negotiations committee fails to reach agreement
- CARICOM lead negotiator
Stabroek News
February 10, 2004
The 17th Meeting of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) ended inconclusively last Friday evening, and according to CARICOM lead negotiator, Ambassador Dr Richard Bernal, the FTAA process had essentially stalled as the TNC meeting had failed to reach agreement.
The five-day meeting of Trade Vice-Ministers from 34 nations in the Americas was held in Puebla, Mexico from February 2 to 6.
"The meeting was unable to reach consensus on a framework for the proposed FTAA because of differences amongst delegations, in particular on the contentious issues of agricultural export subsidies and domestic support," says Director-General of the Caribbean Negotiating Machinery (RNM), Dr Bernal, who headed the RNM delegation to the TNC.
Until deliberations at the TNC level are concluded, negotiations in the various negotiating groups are suspended, he notes, according to a release from the RNM.
The Southern Cone Common Market (Mercosur), led by Brazil and Argentina, has consistently pressed for farm subsidies to be included in hemispheric talks, with a view to their reduction. The United States, which has extensive subsidies and domestic supports, refused to agree for these to be negotiated in the FTAA. The US argues that these issues can only be effectively addressed within the World Trade Organization (WTO), which includes other countries utilizing farm subsidies - namely, the European Union (EU), the release pointed out.
Although there was no agreement on the subject matter of FTAA negotiations, significant progress was made in deliberations regarding the procedures for operating a 'two-level' structure for the Americas-wide trade pact. The two levels envisioned, the release said, are a core (a common tier), which would incorporate all countries, and a plurilateral level, for which participation would be voluntary.
Ambassador Bernal says further that CARICOM countries were concerned by the fall-out from the impasse at the meeting. In the course of the Vice-Ministerial meeting last week, the dates proposed for a 'Caricom Roundtable' under the Hemispheric Cooperation Programme (HCP), February 26 to 27, were no longer viewed as timely. It was announced that new dates will be proposed in due course, the release said.
The roundtables are a follow-up process to an initial dialogue between potential donors and countries seeking assistance for trade capacity building, for the implementation of the FTAA HCP. The 'initial' meeting with donors for the implementation of the HCP took place in Washington, DC, in October last year. That meeting sought to engage FTAA countries that have identified trade-related capacity needs in dialogue with countries, regional and international institutions with the potential to assist in addressing the needs expressed.