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Trade and Environment
Trade and Environment at the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)
Canada believes that progress on environment in the hemisphere is important if FTAA countries are to achieve their shared objective to make trade liberalization and environmental policies mutually supportive. Canada is one of the main proponents of taking environmental policy aspects into consideration in the relevant sections of the text of the trade agreement. Canada is also working with its hemispheric counterparts towards ensuring greater environmental cooperation in the region.
Based on a Canadian initiative, significant progress was achieved at the 7th FTAA Trade Ministerial Meeting held in Quito, Ecuador, on November 1, 2002. Trade Ministers of the Americas have jointly recognized the importance of strengthening throughout the hemisphere, national actions and cooperation in order to ensure that the benefits of trade liberalization and the protection of the environment and human health are mutually supportive.
Canada is of the view that our experience with environmental side agreements and their programmes of cooperative activities is relevant in this regard. However, it is simply too early in negotiations to say exactly how protection of the environment will be dealt with in the FTAA. Canada's goal is to ensure that progress on the environment takes into account the new requirements emerging from the relationship among 34 countries.
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Environmental Considerations
in the FTAA - July 2003
At the 14th FTAA Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) meeting
in San Salvador, El Salvador (July 7-11), Canada presented a
concept paper that addresses environmental considerations in
the FTAA.
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"Greening the FTAA? Towards the Protection of Ecological Integrity
in our Hemisphere" - a conference organized by Environmental
Law McGill (ELM) was held at Montréal, Canada on March 17 -
18, 2003. Visit their website
for conference proceedings
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"Towards Sustainability in the Americas" - a civil society
forum organized by the Ecuadorian Centre for Environmental Law
(CEDA) was held at Quito, Ecuador on October 29-30, 2002. The
discussions focused on key issues related to sustainable development
within the framework of the FTAA and covered five broad topics:
investment; intellectual property rights and biodiversity; market
access; sustainability assessments; as well as civil society
participation and transparency. To read the recommendations
stemming from this forum, which were presented to FTAA Trade
Ministers, follow this
link or visit the CEDA
website.
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