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18 November 2003 | Number
2 |
BILATERAL AGREEMENTS ARE DISCUSSED AS MINISTERS ARRIVE
During the second day of negotiations a series of announcements were made about new US initiatives to start negotiations with some countries in the region.
Two
roads - One objective
US
Trade Representative Robert Zoellick arrived in Miami on Tuesday to
hold bilateral meetings with certain countries in the region and to
send a clear message of the US commitment to hemispheric integration
through two parallel strategies: one at the regional level (i.e. the
FTAA) and another consisting of bilateral negotiations. In this respect,
he stressed that some countries were willing and interested to pursue
trade negotiations at a faster pace. He also noted that the US decision
to pursue bilateral agreements with such countries was motivated by
the fact that they were interested in reaching broader agreements, including
in areas that face disagreement in the FTAA process.
Prior
to the opening of the Ministerial meeting, the US announced its intention
to launch trade negotiations with four Andean countries and Panama.
Furthermore, it confirmed its interest in concluding negotiations with
Central American countries before the end of this year, so that the
CAFTA agreement can enter into force next year, and announced its intention
of including the Dominican Republic in this process.
Zoellick
said that negotiations would start in the second half of 2004 with Colombia
and Peru, and sometime later with Ecuador and Bolivia. The four Andean
countries currently benefit from unilateral preference schemes that
will run until 2006 in compensation for the costs of the war against
drugs.
Negotiations
with Panama are slated to start during the second half of 2004.
The US hopes that these bilateral negotiations will act are a spur to the FTAA process.
The
Current State of Negotiations
The
different negotiating groups are expecting instructions from Ministers
on how to continue their work during the final phase of the negotiating
process. Discussions over the past few days signal that Ministers will
not deliver substantive and specific instructions, and it is expected
that the Ministerial Declaration will only provide guidelines on the
general framework under which negotiations must continue. Below, we
summarise the current state of some negotiation areas, following up
on those presented in Issue 1 of BRIDGES Miami Daily Update.
Market
Access
The
main objective of the Negotiating Group on Market Access is to eliminate
tariffs and non-tariff barriers to trade.
The
discussions follow the calendar agreed during the Quito Ministerial
last year. Countries have already submitted their initial offers and
are currently revising and improving them. The final level of market
opening is conditioned to the overall result of the negotiations.
The
San Jose Ministerial Declaration established that all tariffs would
be subject to negotiation; however, each country can phase out tariffs
on sensitive products over longer - or even indefinite - reduction periods.
There
are four tariff reduction categories in the FTAA process: (A) immediate;
(B) no more than five years; (C) no more than ten years; and (D) a category
for sensitive products that is still undefined.
The work of the Market Access group will continue on the basis of the offers and requests.
Intellectual
Property
Two
aspects have been the main focus of intellectual property discussion
in the FTAA:
1)
The US has proposed to include in the FTAA a chapter on intellectual
property rights (IPRs) inspired by its own legislation. In this sense,
the US is attempting to "export" its domestic policies to
the rest of the region and demand that all countries of the hemisphere
adopt legislation similar to the US intellectual property regime.
The
US is pushing for the creation of a hemispheric data base, something
it has not succeeded in doing domestically.
2)
On the other hand, the Brazilian delegation - supported by other Mercosur
countries - opposes the inclusion of an intellectual property rights
chapter in the FTAA. Brazil argues that specific agreements on intellectual
property rights already exist in the WTO and other international fora
such as the World Intellectual Property Rights Organization (WIPO).
According to Brazil, the IPR discussion should be addressed in fora
established for the purpose as any inclusion of this subject in the
FTAA would only result in higher standards.
The
rest of the countries are divided between these two positions. Countries
like Canada, Mexico and Chile, that already have trade agreements with
the US that cover IPRs, are not opposed to discussing it in the FTAA.
The second draft on the chapter related to intellectual property rights shows that no agreement has been reached on the content of this chapter. Thus, discussions have been focused on more general aspects.
Labour
issues
As
with the environment, the current FTAA draft does not contain a specific
labour chapter. However, there are clear signals of increasing pressure
to include this issue in the negotiations. One example is the US Congress
adoption of the 2002 Trade Law, which empowers the Executive to negotiate
trade agreements subject to a yes or no "fast-track" vote
in Congress. The document requires all treaties to include adequate
labor and environment provisions.
According
to a trade source, Chile has been one of the main supporters for including
labour in the FTAA text. In fact, along with other Latin American countries,
it is proposing the creation of a consultative committee to explore
the different alternatives to approach the subject in the negotiations.
While the US hopes that labour will be part of the Agreement, other countries such as Mexico, Brazil and Argentina have expressed concern.
Investment,
Competition Policy, and Government Procurement
Investment,
competition policy and government procurement present dynamics similar
to those on intellectual property. On the one hand, there is a proposal
to include ambitious chapters that go beyond what has been proposed
at the WTO; on the other hand, there is Brazil's position to exclude
these topics from the negotiations.
The
countries that have trade agreements with the US are -in principle -
not opposed to the inclusion of these topics, since their respective
treaties already include specific clauses on investment, competition
policy and government procurement.
The
Ministerial Declaration seeks a solution to these differences, as the
latest attempts failure to achieve consensus between parties.
Some countries have already presented their initial offers, while the
others are encouraged to do so as soon as possible.
A
Declaration to Avoid Failure
The
Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) continued to work on the Declaration
text, based on a draft circulated by Brazil and the US. Work concentrated
on finding language acceptable to all delegations, so it could be presented
for the consideration of Ministers during the two-day high-level meeting.
According
to a source involved in the process, there has been special emphasis
on achieving a positive result for the world trade community. In this
context, the Declaration does not go over specific details, but tackles
general topics.
As
indicated yesterday in Issue 1 of BRIDGES Miami Daily Update, attempts
are being made to reach consensus on the structure of the Agreement.
This refers to clauses that allow countries to choose the level of commitment
they would be willing to take on in each of areas under negotiation.
This could be interpreted as a decrease in the Agreement's scope and
ambition to a level that will allow the Ministers agree on a more flexible
agenda. A possibility to choose the areas that they would be willing
to make commitments in could also permit participants to conclude negotiations
by 1 January 2005.
Other issues that have been discussed at the TNC include differential treatment of countries according to their level of development and the recognition of the need of certain flexibilities for smaller economies. The Committee has also focused on hemispheric co-operation through financial and non- financial support, both reimbursable and non-reimbursable. On institutional matters, the importance of civil society and the possibility to create a permanent consultative committee is widely recognized
On
the Agenda
Trade Ministers of the 34 negotiating countries will continue to arrive in Miami. Their first official activities will include meetings with the representatives of the Americas Business Forum and the Americas Forum on Trade and Sustainable Development.
