Western Hemisphere leaders meet for Sixth Summit of the Americas, FTAA -- A Main Theme

News Ahead ^ | 10.14.05

[Coleus]

MAR DEL PLATA/BARILOCHE, ARGENTINA. 4-5 Nov 2005. The theme for the heads of state and government of the Western Hemisphere’s democracies at the Sixth Summit of the Americas is, "Creating Employment to Confront Poverty and Strengthen Democratic Governance." It sounds new, but it restates the aims of the Free Trade Area of the Americas – to create greater prosperity for nearly 800 million people in 34 countries of the hemisphere – a pact that has missed its Jan 1 2005 target date.

The choice of the theme suggests that the summit will tackle issues that are holding up talks about the pact, launched at the 1994 Summit of the Americas. So far, negotiating governments express commitment to the pact, but are under domestic pressure to hold their ground on agriculture, intellectual property rights, investment rules and a host of other issues.

Washington’s irritation with most of the region for opposing the United States-led war in Iraq has made talks of all kinds a labored exercise. The near hemispheric distrust of US Republican President George W. Bush and his agenda further sours gatherings that require regional decisions. Some experts believe that Bush second term will mean more attention paid to Latin-American issues, but point out that even the Republicans are divided on FTAA and its less ambitious cousin, the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Bush is reported to be planning to attend the summit, and may work to steer the summit away from the FTAA and into a debate on spreading freedom, a theme of his State of the Union speech in February. But the other leaders will want to hear about his proposals to change US immigration laws.

The leaders can expect to hear progress reports on goals set at previous summits to deal with the region’s most pressing issues – terrorism, drugs, gang violence, organized crime, natural disasters and AIDS.

A dispute over where the FTAA headquarters will be situated, if the pact ever comes to pass, is likely to claim a place on the agenda. Miami in the United States and Cancun and Puebla in Mexico are making bids to host the troubled FTAA’s future headquarters. Feb/04

Special Report: Summit of the Americas (Time 19 Apr 2001)

[Coleus]

The theme for the 6th Summit of the Americas will restate the goals of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The summit is scheduled for November 4-5 and will cover a range of issues from terrorism to recent natural disasters - but mostly will cover the current and future status of the FTAA.

[NormsRevenge]

..launched at the 1994 Summit of the Americas. So far, negotiating governments express commitment to the pact, but are under domestic pressure to hold their ground on agriculture, intellectual property rights, investment rules and a host of other issues.

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I guess national sovereignty is one of those little items that falls in the 'a host of issues' category.

Summit of the Americas

[B4Ranch]

"We are grateful to the Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years.”
David Rockefeller (1991)

[B4Ranch]

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