The inconclusive informal meeting by select FTAA vice Ministers in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Thursday and the announcement of yet another delay for the resumption of the 17th Meeting of The Negotiating Committee was seen by the Chair of the FTAA services group as signs that the proposed hemispheric trading bloc would not be concluded quickly.
Speaking on issues of trade involving The Bahamas at a one day forum jointly hosted by the Nassau Institute and the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, Hillary Deveaux who is also acting executive director of The Bahamas Securities Commission said that with the impending United States presidential election and the insistence by the MERCUSOR groups to deal with agriculture in FTAA, “it appears that we’re not going to move very quickly.”
Mr. Deveaux also said that the numerous free trade agreements the United States is currently signing with the various countries involved in the proposed FTAA was seen by some countries as having the potential to diminish the advantages that could be had with the signing of the hemispheric trade agreement.
“They feel that if the benefits are greater in the bi-laterals then most countries will not find a need to sign on to the FTAA,” Mr. Deveaux said.
In a recent update by the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM), the Director General, Richard Bernal cautioned that despite the recent unsuccessful attempts to arrive at a solution to the impasse among FTAA countries participants should not become despondent. “Complacency is no an option. It is incumbent that all concerned stay the course,” he said.
Both meetings were aimed at developing a common set of rights and obligations for the common tier of the new two level structure of the FTAA that was arrived at in the 8th Ministerial Meeting held in Miami, Florida late last year. The new two-tier approach, dubbed “FTAA lite” by the press, would consist of a core or common tier that would include all 34 countries and a plurilateral level in which participation would be voluntary.
Touting the benefits that could be expected with the proposed trade agreement, Robert Witajewski, Charge de Affaires at United States Embassy in The Bahamas, who was also a featured speaker at the forum, said that with its service-based economy and its need to import virtually everything it uses, freer trade of goods and services and the inevitably lower prices this would bring would provide a vital boost to the Bahamian economy. He added that while signing on to the FTAA would most likely require a change in the way The Bahamas collects its revenues, the resultant growth that could be anticipated would generate more income in the long run.
The Charge also noted that the United States was aware of the unique position of CARICOM countries. “U.S. Trade Representative Zoellick supports granting special consideration for smaller and less developed countries,” Mr. Witajewski said. “We are prepared to work with CARICOM off line on these issues. However, a pre-condition for reaching agreement with CARICOM on the parameters of special and differential treatment will be agreement on the overall structure of an FTAA agreement.”
The idea for the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas came out of the 1994 Summit of the Americas in Miami, Florida where a decision was made to unite the economies of the Americas into a single free trade area. A January 2005 deadline was set for the end of negotiations and the signing of an agreement, which would unite all the 34 countries of the Americas with the exception of Cuba. The hemisphere wide agreement would create the largest free trade areas in the world with a $13 trillion economy and 800 million consumers.
Martella Matthews, The Nassau Guardian
