*EPF216 10/15/2002
U.S. To Pursue Number of Objectives at FTAA Meeting in Quito
(USTR's Zoellick proposes Miami host 2003 FTAA ministerial) (960)

By Eric Green
Writer/Editor

Miami -- The United States will pursue a number of objectives when the trade ministers from the Western Hemisphere's 34 democracies meet November 1 in Quito, Ecuador, to continue work on the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), says U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick.

In an address October 14 to the sixth annual Americas Conference in Miami, sponsored by the Miami Herald newspaper, Zoellick said the trade ministers at Quito need to launch what he called a "Hemispheric Cooperative Program" so that smaller developing nations, especially in the Caribbean and Central America, can benefit from an FTAA that encompasses 800 million people.

Zoellick said the U.S. goal is to ensure that these smaller countries have the support to negotiate complex subjects, the ability to implement the final FTAA pact, and the help to make the necessary structural adjustments that will be part of creating an effective free-trade area stretching from Canada to Argentina.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) have been "excellent partners in this effort to combine trade with aid for growth and opportunity," Zoellick said.

The official said the United States will urge at Quito that the latest draft text of the FTAA agreement be in the public domain, in order to enhance its "transparency."

"We value public input, which we will seek to take into consideration" as work continues on completing the FTAA by a target date of 2005, he said.

Zoellick also said the United States hopes that Quito "provides another opportunity to engage groups from our civil societies" about the FTAA.

"We will listen" to these groups, Zoellick said. "And we will not shrink from explaining the benefits of free trade." Zoellick said that civil society groups have offered "unprecedented input" into the FTAA process. Recommendations from civil society, he said, are being forwarded on an ongoing basis -- in both English and Spanish -- to the FTAA negotiators.

Zoellick said the trade ministers also look forward to receiving recommendations from private business leaders. The private sector will hold an Americas Business Forum in Quito immediately before the trade ministerial. Zoellick said the FTAA can only be an "enabling framework within which the genius of entrepreneurs, the commitments of investors, and the energy of growing businesses create jobs, growth, and hope for the peoples of the Americas."

The trade official opened his speech by announcing that the United States will propose at Quito that Miami host the next FTAA trade ministerial in 2003. He asked his audience of government officials and business leaders to let Miami "make history" for the region by leveraging "the benefits of trade for the ever brighter future of Florida within the new Americas." Zoellick also said that Brazil, which is scheduled to co-chair with the United States the ongoing FTAA negotiations following the Quito meeting, should host the 2004 trade ministerial.

Zoellick reiterated U.S. resolve to stay engaged in the Americas, despite the September 2001 attacks on the United States which focused the Bush administration's attention on homeland security and fighting global terrorism. Zoellick said that rather than losing interest in Latin America, President Bush is committed to the region as a "fundamental economic, political, and security partner." As evidence of this commitment, Zoellick pointed out that the president has held 30 White House meetings with Latin American heads of government, that the first regional summit meeting he attended was the Summit of the Americas in Canada, and that he visited El Salvador, Peru, and Mexico this March.

"For President Bush, this hemisphere is home, the neighborhood of the Americas," declared Zoellick.

The trade official also outlined his own frequent trips to the region, which included a visit to Trinidad and Tobago in September to discuss with trade ministers of the Caribbean Community and Common Market the special needs of small island economies. Later in October, Zoellick said, he will visit Bolivia and Ecuador.

Zoellick said the United States must stay involved in Latin America for the benefit of the entire hemisphere. That is why, he said, the United States stepped in with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the G-7 economies to give Uruguay the opportunity to revive a banking system under stress. It is why, he added, the United States stands by Brazil with a new $30 billion IMF support package, and why it is working with the IMF, the World Bank, and the IDB to assist Colombia.

This involvement, Zoellick said, is the reason the United States is "willing to support assistance from international financial institutions for our friends in Argentina" if that country's political leaders "can take the necessary steps for self-help."

Zoellick said that "not surprisingly, skeptics abound" about whether an FTAA can be constructed.

Some political leaders, he said, "position themselves at home with warnings, while others seek to engage their publics about opportunities. Each of us has sensitive topics that we need to address with care, while not losing sight of the great gain for all. Only time will tell whether the sharp objections are negotiating positions or the bluster of fearful politicians."

The United States, he said, is moving toward a free trade agreement with Chile, and after that with Central America. It is also preparing the way for more free trade by opening the U.S. market through the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act and the Andean Trade Preference Act.

Zoellick said the United States wants "to negotiate with all the democracies of the Americas through the FTAA," but is also prepared to move "step-by-step toward free trade if others turn back or simply are not yet ready" for a hemispheric-wide trade agreement. Zoellick said the U.S. free-trade agenda "can help fragile democracies in the Americas, just as U.S. trade policy after World War II helped secure democracy and hope in Western Europe and Japan."

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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