Posted on 11/04/2005 4:58:27 PM PST by DumpsterDiver
MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina - Twenty-nine countries in favor of a planned Free Trade Area of the Americas may establish it without the participation of five dissenting countries, Mexican President Vicente Fox said Friday.
Fox said these pro-FTAA countries - which include the U.S., Mexico, Canada and Chile - are discussing an alternative agreement.
The five dissenting nations include the four members of the South American trade group Mercosur - Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay - which have opposed plans to establish a deadline for relaunching FTAA talks, as well as Venezuela, which outright opposes the region-wide trade deal.
Fox said he was "very unsatisfied" with the handling of the Summit of the Americas, which started Friday in this Argentine coastal town, because the agenda had excluded key issues such as the FTAA agreement and immigrant-rights concerns.
He was speaking at a press briefing attended by the Associated Press. He said the summit's host, Argentina President Nestor Kirchner, "must do more to save this conference."
Fox said that a meeting with Kirchner planned for Friday had been canceled.
On Thursday, a senior member of the Brazilian delegation signaled that his country was in favor both of reviving the trade talks, which have stalled in recent years, and of including a reference to the FTAA plan in the summit's declaration.
"Venezuela is the only country that doesn't want to talk about the FTAA," the Brazilian negotiator said. He added that without Venezuela's consent, the summit document would either have to be written around the FTAA issue, or there simply wouldn't be a final declaration.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is scheduled to meet with Fox later Friday.
A declaration is expected Saturday at the conclusion of the summit. The wording of that document hasn't been decided.
When it established the key themes for the conference, the Argentine government excluded free trade and instead set the key goal as "creating jobs to fight poverty and strengthen democratic governance."
Argentine officials and businessmen have said in the past few days that their resistance on FTAA was due to U.S. failure to commit to reductions in agricultural subsidies.
The most vocal opponent of FTAA is Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. He is expected to appear Friday before an alternative People's Summit where participants are mostly opposed to a free trade deal. The People's Summit is being held in parallel to the main conference.
The FTAA idea was originally launched in 1994 at the first Summit of the Americas in Miami. Negotiations are co-chaired by the U.S. and Brazil, but no high-level talks have taken place since a summit in 2003, also in Miami.
bump
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.