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El Salvador President: FTAA Not Dead, Free Trade To Prevail
MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina -(Dow Jones)- El Salvador's President Antonio Saca Friday firmly opposed statements by his Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chavez, that the idea to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas was dead, and said the planned free-trade area from Alaska to Argentina will become a reality.
"We did not come here to attend the burial of the FTAA," Saca said at a press conference during the Summit of the Americas held in the Argentine city of Mar de Plata. "Our position is of a total and absolute support of the FTAA. The spirit of integration will prevail."
Saca comments came in a stark contrast to those of Chavez little earlier.
"Today the FTAA is dead and we are going to bury it here. We are here to change the course of history," the Venezuelan president said as he stepped off his plane to attend the summit of 34 Western Hemisphere leaders held here Friday and Saturday.
Chavez wasn't talking for all Latin American presidents, Saca said.
"There's no room for ideological discussions in trade relations," Saca said in a clear reference to Chavez.
Earlier Friday, Mexico's President Vicente Fox said 29 countries in favor of the FTAA - including the U.S., Mexico, and Chile - could establish the free-trade area without the participation of five dissenting countries.
Next to Venezuela's square opposition to the FTAA, the countries of the Mercosur trade bloc, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, have showed skepticism about a rapid formation of the FTAA.
On Thursday, a high-ranking Brazilian diplomat said Mercosur may agree to a mention of the FTAA in the final declaration of the summit, but without any date attached of when FTAA negotiations should restart.
El Salvador's Saca said he wasn't yet aware of Fox's comments, but if certain countries didn't wish to join the FTAA, the trade area could be built up in a piecemeal fashion, with smaller trade deals, such as NAFTA, or the U.S.-Central American deal CAFTA adding up to form a larger regionwide free-trade zone.
"We already have reached half of the FTAA," Saca said. "And with the future, imminent deals, such as between the U.S. and Panama, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador...I think we will advance enormously. And with other countries that (now) don't want to join, we still can do bilateral accords later."
Despite the more hesitant approach of the Mercosur countries, Saca said, his country would still have good trade relations with the South Americans. He added that several big Brazilian companies said they will make large investments in the Central American country in coming months. Saca didn't say which companies those are.
The official theme of the Mar de Plata summit is job creation, but it is expected that trade talks will take place on the sidelines.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is scheduled to meet Mexico's Fox later Friday. A press official at Brazil's Foreign Ministry in Mar de Plata said no government officials were available to comment on Fox's remarks, and probably won't be all day Friday. thebusinessonline.com |
