NEWS RELEASES
EGGLETON TO ATTEND SECOND WESTERN HEMISPHERE TRADE MINISTERIAL AND VISIT CHILE
March 19, 1996 No. 41
EGGLETON TO ATTEND SECOND WESTERN HEMISPHERE TRADE
MINISTERIAL AND VISIT CHILE
The Honourable Art Eggleton, Minister for International Trade, announced today
that he will attend the second Western Hemisphere Trade Ministerial in Cartagena,
Colombia, on March 20 and 21 and visit Chile on March 22.
At the Summit of the Americas in December 1994, 34 elected heads of government in
the Western Hemisphere pledged to negotiate a free trade area of the Americas
(FTAA) by 2005. Ministers responsible for trade were directed to oversee
preparatory work and the negotiation of such an agreement.
In Cartagena, ministers will decide on priorities for preparatory work over the
next year and initiate discussions on what form an eventual FTAA will take. They
will review the preparatory work of the seven technical working groups established
at their first meeting in Denver, Colorado, in June 1995 and are expected to
establish four additional working groups.
"It is critical at this point that we begin to define and reach agreement on what
the FTAA will contain," said Mr. Eggleton. "This will help determine what
structure the agreement will take and enable us to begin substantive negotiations
soon. Only by doing so will we maintain the momentum to achieve our leaders'
vision of an FTAA by 2005."
During his stay in Cartagena, Mr. Eggleton will meet with Mexico's Minister of
Trade and Industrial Promotion, Herminio Blanco, to discuss implementation of the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). He will also meet Canadian business
representatives participating in the 1996 Americas Business Forum being held in
conjunction with the FTAA ministerial meeting.
While in Santiago on March 22, Mr. Eggleton will call on Chilean President Eduardo
Frei and meet with Minister of Finance Eduardo Aninat to discuss the current
status of negotiations on the interim Canada-Chile trade agreement covering trade
and investment and environmental and labour co-operation. This package of
agreements will provide a bridge to Chile's full accession to the NAFTA.
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A backgrounder on the proposed free trade area of the Americas is attached.
For further information, media representatives may contact:
Media Relations Office
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
(613) 995-1874
Backgrounder
THE FREE TRADE AREA OF THE AMERICAS
At the Summit of the Americas in December 1994, 34 elected heads of government in
the Western Hemisphere met in Miami in the spirit of greater co-operation on
issues of mutual interest and concern. Government leaders approved a Declaration
of Principles and a Plan of Action that highlighted the Summit's themes of
liberalizing trade, guaranteeing sustainable development and strengthening
democracy.
On the trade front, Summit leaders committed to negotiate a free trade area of the
Americas (FTAA) by 2005 at the latest. They called for concrete progress by 1999
and directed their ministers responsible for trade to oversee preparatory work and
the negotiation of such an agreement.
The First Western Hemisphere Trade Ministerial
At the first Western Hemisphere Trade Ministerial in Denver, Colorado, in June
1995, ministers agreed that the FTAA will:
maximize market openness through high levels of discipline;
be fully consistent with the World Trade Organization (WTO);
be balanced and comprehensive; and
represent a single undertaking comprising mutual rights and obligations.
To achieve such an agreement, ministers agreed on a program of preparatory work to
be completed by officials prior to their next meeting in March 1996. Seven
working groups were established in the following areas: market access; customs
procedures and rules of origin; investment; standards and technical barriers to
trade; sanitary and phytosanitary measures; subsidies, antidumping and
countervailing duties; and a working group on smaller economies.
The working groups were instructed to gather and exchange information and to
analyze and compare data with a view to making recommendations for negotiations in
each area. Canada is actively involved in each of the working groups and
currently chairs the working group on standards and technical barriers to trade.
The work programs of these groups are crucial to ensuring that countries are
prepared to negotiate the FTAA.
The working groups have established their priorities for additional preparatory
work over the next year, which they will submit to ministers for approval.
Ministers are expected to establish additional working groups on government
procurement, intellectual property rights, services and competition policy.
Canadian positions
In Canada's view, the FTAA will complement subregional economic integration
efforts already under way, such as the Canada-Chile bilateral free trade
agreement. Canada believes that a regional trade liberalization initiative using
WTO commitments as a starting point should allow participants to proceed faster
and go farther in integrating their economies than is possible in the WTO. All 34
FTAA countries are either WTO members or apply WTO rules.
The Miami and Denver Declarations committed participants to "build on" existing
subregional and bilateral arrangements. However, the FTAA will not be achieved
through a passive convergence of existing agreements, or by countries joining an
existing agreement. Canada advocated last June in Denver that there are two
fundamental questions all FTAA members must answer: what provisions will the FTAA
contain and how will we go about negotiating these provisions, individually or
bloc to bloc? Clearly, the first issue is what is in the agreement as this will
in many ways determine how the FTAA will be negotiated.
Canadian Trade and Investment in the Western Hemisphere
Exports to FTAA members (excluding Mexico and the United States) grew by about 20
per cent in 1995 to reach $3.9 billion, bringing the total value of two-way trade
to $7.5 billion. Exports to Latin America registered particularly impressive
increases, with exports to Brazil up by 32 per cent, exports to Chile up by 23 per
cent, Argentina up by 18 per cent and Peru up by 68 per cent. Canadian investment
in FTAA countries (excluding Mexico and the United States) also grew to
approximately $15 billion in 1995.
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