FTAA Negotiations and the WTO

May 4, 1999

4 May 1999

FTAA Negotiations and the World Trade Organization

The following is excerpted from "The Journal of Commerce" issue of 3 May 1999.

Negotiations are ongoing among the 34 countries participating in the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) group. However, FTAA negotiators say that the rules they wish to develop by 2005 (the target date for completion of talks) may be superseded by the World Trade Organization (WTO). Canada has chaired the discussions since September, 1998 and turns over the chair to Argentina in November.

There have been no formal discussions on co-ordinating the activities of the WTO and the FTAA; concern is growing that the WTO process could overtake the FTAA effort. The FTAA talks cover nine areas, including agriculture, investment and competition policy, which could also be covered by the WTO Millennium Round (members may wish to consult a previous article on this topic, entitled "Free Trade Area of the Americas Negotiations in Full Swing", dated 29 April 1999).

To date, most of the countries involved in FTAA have participated in the meetings of deputy trade ministers, the on-going nine negotiating committees and three standing committees, despite economic problems in Brazil and Ecuador, Venezuela's constitutional crisis, and Jamaica's riots. In a few months, however, smaller countries with fewer resources, particularly those in central America and the Caribbean, will face a difficult choice: should they focus those limited resources on the regional trade effort, or the global talks?

Because the FTAA is on such fragile footing due to domestic political and economic problems within the hemisphere, there are fears that any break in the FTAA negotiating schedule would be tantamount to killing the process. A key to the relationship between two ambitious and time-consuming negotiations will be the level of duplication.

Just as negotiators have hard decisions to make, so does the hemispheric business community. Over the past four years, business groups have collectively sponsored gatherings that parallel the annual trade ministers meeting in an effort to influence the process. They believe they carry out the international trade on a daily basis and can play an important role. However, negotiators gave them no special role when launching the talks. Instead, the private sector's involvement in the FTAA process will come via a broad panel designed to take comment from civil society.

Thrown together with labour and environmental groups and non-government associations, business is still looking for a more direct role.


Topic(s): 
International Initiatives
Information Source: 
World Customs Organization (WCO) / World Trade Organization (WTO)
Document Type: 
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