Creating Prosperity

The ongoing Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations are an integral part of the larger Summit of the Americas process. With an agenda focused on creating prosperity, the proposed FTAA complements Summit initiatives aimed at strengthening democracy and realizing human potential. The FTAA is the most visible element of the Summit process, and its principal objective is to attain growth and development through enhanced economic integration in order to meet the Summit's broader goals.

Labour and Employment

The FTAA talks are only a means to an end: the creation of jobs and prosperity throughout the Hemisphere. Within the context of the FTAA negotiations and beyond, Canada is committed to ensuring that the benefits of trade liberalization and economic growth are distributed equitably.

Canada is playing an important role in fulfilling the labour and employment commitments mandated by the Quebec City Summit Plan of Action. As Chair of the XII Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labour (IACML) since October 2001, Canada has implemented a results-oriented Plan of Action that focuses on: promoting the International Labour Organization Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work; strengthening the capacity of labour ministries to implement labour laws and policies, assisting the smaller economies of the Hemisphere; and working towards a deeper understanding of, and agreement on, the labour dimensions of the Summit of the Americas process.

A milestone under Canada's leadership has been the unprecedented participation of employer and labour groups in the formulation and implementation of the IACML Plan of Action.

To fulfill its commitments, the IACML established two working groups: one to examine the labour dimensions of globalization and the other to find ways of building the capacity of labour ministries. Workshops have also been organized across the Americas to address the impact of trade and economic integration on labour, non-traditional employment relationships, closing the digital divide, social security, and gender issues.

After having taken concrete measures towards improving working conditions in the Americas, Canada will hand over the chair of the IACML to Brazil in September 2003.

Trade, Investment and Financial Stability

The proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas is a vehicle for promoting growth and creating prosperity in the Americas. It would establish the world's largest free trade area. With a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of about CDN$19.7 trillion, the FTAA would account for about 40 percent of the world's economic activity, a proportion greater than that of the European Union.

A hemispheric trade agreement would open new markets and provide a competitive stimulus for both goods and services industries, fuelling a search for innovation and improvement throughout the Hemisphere. It would also provide rules that create a stable and predictable environment, encouraging investment and financial stability throughout the Americas.

The results of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which brings together the Canadian, U.S. and Mexican economies to their mutual benefit, foreshadow the potential gains from Hemispheric free trade. The FTAA has the potential to significantly expand overall trade in the Americas. This would translate into higher GDP growth throughout the Hemisphere, and it would help all of us achieve our domestic economic and social policy objectives.

The FTAA was conceived in principle in December 1994 at the inaugural Summit of the Americas, held in Miami, Florida. In April 1998, at the Second Summit in Santiago, Chile, the Leaders of the 34 democratic countries in the Americas launched negotiations towards a hemisphere-wide free trade area. Canada became the first Chair of the FTAA process, seen as a key opportunity to demonstrate Canadian commitment to strengthening ties within the Hemisphere and further the trade liberalization agenda. By the conclusion of Canada's term as Chair, at the November 1999 Trade Ministerial in Toronto, concrete progress towards the next phase of the negotiations had been realized.

Canada continues to play an active leadership role in the negotiations. It is currently the Chair for the Negotiating Group on Dispute Settlement, and Vice-Chair for the Negotiating Group on Subsidies, Antidumping and Countervailing Duties. Canada also continues to advocate greater transparency in the FTAA negotiations. At the April 2001 Trade Ministerial in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Trade Ministers endorsed Canada's proposal to make public the consolidated draft negotiating text of the FTAA Agreement. The Ministers decided to release the second draft at the November 2002 Trade Ministerial in Quito, Ecuador, demonstrating the success of Canada's long-standing efforts to instill a new culture of transparency in trade negotiations. Canada has pledged its full support to trade-related technical assistance through the Hemispheric Cooperation Program announced during the Quito Ministerial.

Canada's trade with Latin America and the Caribbean is often overshadowed by its ties with its larger trading partners. However, the table above shows exactly how valuable Canada's trade relationship with Latin America and the Caribbean has become. It indicates that Canadian exports to the far less populous region of the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central and South America are in fact worth more than exports to India, Indonesia, Russia, France, Germany and Eastern Europe combined.¹

Towards a Green Hemisphere

During its term as Chair of the Summit of the Americas, Canada has made important progress on environmental issues-on the world stage, in our Hemisphere and at home.

Canada took an important step forward in the battle against global climate change in December 2002 when it ratified the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. With this ratification, Canada has become the only country in the Americas with a binding emissions reduction target for the Kyoto commitment period.

On the regional level, Canada is an active player in cooperative steps to address environmental issues of fundamental concern, such as health and the environment, trade and the environment, air and water quality, climate variability and change, and the management of chemicals. Canada's support for environmental issues in the Americas focuses on strengthening the capacity of regional institutions and countries to support improved environmental policy, management and regulation, and adaptation to climate change in such sectors as energy, water and sanitation, mining, oil and gas, agriculture and pesticides, and disaster management. Canada spends over CDN$9 million annually in these areas.

In March 2001 Canada hosted the Meeting of Ministers of the Environment of the Americas. This led to the effective integration of environmental priorities into the Quebec City Summit Plan of Action.

In support of the mandate established at Quebec City, Canada hosted the Health and Environment Ministers of the Americas (HEMA) meeting in Ottawa in March 2002. The meeting agreed to establish a task force of officials from the health and environment sectors throughout the region to move the HEMA initiative forward. Since then, Canada has been working with regional counterparts and representatives from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the United Nations Environment Programme to support the work of the HEMA Task Force. The task force is scheduled to meet three times in 2003 to make proposals to Ministers on a follow-up process.

Canada's continued commitment to regional environmental cooperation is evident in its work under the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, the Canada-Chile Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, and the Canada-Costa Rica Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, and in its engagement in the World Bank's Clean Air Initiative. The three environmental cooperation agreements are each associated with a free trade agreement, and reflect Canada's commitment to promoting sound environmental management simultaneously with trade liberalization.

Agricultural Management and Rural Development

The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) is the key ministerial forum for agriculture and rural development in the Hemisphere, and is helping implement the Quebec City Summit Plan of Action in these areas.

A member of IICA since 1972, Canada plays an active role in the Institute by participating in meetings of the Inter-American Board of Agriculture, the Executive Committee and the Special Advisory Commission on Management Issues. Canada has also contributed to the re-organization of the Institute and to the development of its medium-term plan, which identifies six strategic areas for cooperation over the 2002-06 period:

• trade and agri-business;
• agricultural health and food safety;
• technology and innovation;
• sustainable rural development;
• information and communication; and
• education and training.

Ongoing cooperation through IICA continues to give Canada invaluable experience within the inter-American system and with IICA's 34 member states. It also provides an opportunity for the sharing of expertise between scientists, the development of stronger trade ties, and cooperative approaches to common problems.