Posted on 01/13/2004 9:16:36 PM PST by HAL9000
Leaders from 34 American nations agreed Tuesday to support a hemisphere-wide trade area without setting a firm deadline, a concession to Brazil and Venezuela.The United States had sought a 2005 deadline for the Free Trade Area of the Americas in the summit's final declaration, but the document avoids laying out a specific date for an accord.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez instead pushed for a humanitarian fund that could be used to help countries during financial and natural disasters, but said he would sign the document, with reservations.
The draft mentions that leaders will consider Chavez's proposal for an international humanitarian fund.
In addition, the document does not call for banning corrupt governments from future summits, as the United States requested. Instead, it says nations will hold discussions on corrupt states.
President Bush told Canada it will be eligible for a second round of U.S.-financed reconstruction contracts in Iraq that the administration valued at about $4.5 billion.
A day earlier, Mexican President Vicente Fox accepted an invitation to visit Bush's Texas ranch and praised the president's new migration proposal, which would allow migrants to work temporarily in the United States.
Others also welcomed Bush's proposal, with Honduran President Ricardo Maduro saying it would "allow us to have closer ties to Latin Americans in the United States."
But countries also complained the region was not doing enough to battle poverty.
"It is time to act once and for all in the collective and primary interests of all of the Americas," Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said.
Bush arrived at the summit to find many nations publicly criticizing his free trade stance and Washington's insistence on a 2005 deadline.
Recent trade talks have stalled on the prickly issues of removing agricultural subsidies and intellectual property rights.
The United States agreed to several Latin American demands, a move aimed in part at reversing increasingly regional disenchantment with U.S. policy.
In return, countries pledged to "intensify our efforts and strengthen cooperation" to fight terrorist threats. In the last few weeks, Mexico canceled at least two flights because of security concerns.
Brazil has protested new U.S. security measures that require the fingerprinting and photographing of arriving foreigners by doing the same to Americans traveling to Brazil.
Argentina also has sparred with U.S. officials who criticized the Latin American country for visiting Cuba, but not the communist island's dissidents.
Venezuela's Chavez has criticized U.S. support for a referendum on his recall from office, saying Washington should stop "sticking its noses" in his country's affairs.
On Monday, Chavez refused to attend the summit's official dinner and called the gathering of American leaders a "waste of time."
On Tuesday, he suggested that a percentage of developing countries' foreign debt be dedicated to social causes such as health, education and poverty reduction. The declaration did mention that leaders would consider his proposal for an international humanitarian fund.
"We have to change the model," Chavez said, referring to the free-trade focus the United States and other industrialized nations have placed on economic development. "Let's recognize that we are on a very bad path."
Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo said the humanitarian fund Chavez proposed wouldn't "subsidize the developing Latin American countries."
"We are asking that you share the risks with us," he said.
The United States also wanted to bar corrupt nations from future summits, but the declaration only calls for consultations on countries that don't meet the requirements of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption.
After listening to Caribbean leaders lament the millions who die of AIDS in their region, Bush said leaders need to "work on prevention and treatment" and ensure that countries can distribute drugs as they become available under new international rules.
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent urged leaders to make sure they carry out the summit's initiatives once they leave the northern city of Monterrey.
"There seems to be an absence of political direction once the summit comes to an end," he said.
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