SPEECHES

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STATEMENT BY CANADA

AT THE

THIRD WESTERN HEMISPHERE

TRADE MINISTERIAL

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil

May 16, 1997

This document is also available on the Department's Internet site: http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca

Canada is encouraged by the progress made in the preparations on a Free Trade Area of the Americas [FTAA]. We are pleased with the continued determination of all 34 countries to work together to achieve our common objective. We want an agreement that will maximize market openness and contribute to greater prosperity throughout the hemisphere. Our heads of government will meet again in Santiago, Chile, in March of 1998 and we will report what we have achieved toward the realization of that goal. What will we tell them?

A major turning point this year was the emergence of a consensus on the approach and timing of negotiations. In our view, there is convergence on certain elements of a Free Trade Area of the Americas, which:

is a single undertaking based on a comprehensive package of mutual rights and obligations;

co-exists with agreements in the hemisphere;

builds on the WTO [World Trade Organization] and has as its objectives the further liberalization of trade in goods and services;

has clear and predictable rules of origin;

provides for disciplines on investment;

allows for negotiations by countries individually or as members of sub-regional units;

will by the year 2005 at the latest have concluded negotiations.

When trade ministers met in Cartagena last year, Canada sought answers to three questions, the "what," the "how" and the "when" of negotiations. We now have answers to two of those questions. We have agreement in principle on the basic level of obligations and on the overall approach to negotiations. We need to agree today to begin the negotiations in Santiago next year.

We are convinced that while areas requiring resolution remain, we are on the threshold of reaching an agreement to negotiate an FTAA that will allow us to realize the objective of our leaders. We should set out an ambitious work program between now and our next meeting in San José in nine months.

Today, we should establish a preparatory committee at the vice ministerial level to develop a program of negotiation. It should identify the best possible approach, including the establishment of a negotiating committee and the number and mandate of issue-specific negotiating groups.

We believe that we can work with fewer negotiating groups and we are open to recommendations on how many there should be and in what sectors or disciplines they should be concentrated.

Setting out the timetable for negotiations on specific issues will require considerable flexibility but there is an opportunity for us to agree on a framework that will meet our collective needs and expectations. Canada is on record as favouring a program that initiates negotiations in all substantive areas at the same time. Some negotiating groups will go faster than others. But negotiations should begin at the same time in all areas.

We support the proposal to conduct a feasibility study on the options for establishing a small secretariat to assist us during the negotiations.

There are serious issues that require our attention. In a hemisphere where there are different levels of development and sizes of economies, there is no simple solution to facilitate the removal of barriers, open markets and achieve trade liberalization. However, we believe that there is a will to find creative solutions. Canada believes that the FTAA is a means to realize the economic prosperity needed to achieve our social aspirations.

The examination of market access issues requires a great deal of time and effort. We must begin our discussions now if we hope to make the progress required to begin the elimination of tariffs and non-tariff barriers by 2005. This, in the eyes of the Canadian business community, is the core of any free trade agreement.

Initiating negotiations on substantive issues is critical not only to the FTAA process but also to demonstrate to business leaders and investors, particularly those outside the hemisphere, that we mean business. If we do not signal our intent now to launch the negotiations in Santiago and begin the negotiations soon, business leaders and investors in the hemisphere and elsewhere will lose interest. The attention of governments will be attracted to other regions and issues. The momentum we have built will be lost. We must make the necessary decisions today to seize this historic opportunity.