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To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (10146)	4/19/1998 4:56:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116779

Americas Leaders Launch Trade Bloc Talks 04:08 p.m Apr 19, 1998 Eastern By Gary Regenstreif SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) - Leaders of the Americas launched negotiations to create the world's largest free trade bloc Sunday and pledged progress on poverty, drugs and human rights that has eluded many of the hemisphere's young democracies. The centerpiece of the weekend Summit of the Americas of 34 leaders was the decision to start talks toward creating a free trade zone stretching from Alaska to Patagonia by 2005 and uniting 800 million people and economies worth $10 trillion. The leaders, except uninvited Cuba, drafted an action plan to improve the judiciary and human rights, fight drug trafficking and combat the poverty that still plagues Latin America despite years of strong economic growth and inflation at a 50-year low. Officials said international lending agencies will spend $40 billion on reducing poverty over the next three years, nearly double the amount spent since 1995. About 40 percent of Latin Americans live in poverty. ''We believe that economic integration, investment and free trade are key factors for raising standards of living, improving working conditions and better protecting the environment,'' the final Declaration of Santiago said. ''Overcoming poverty continues to be the greatest challenge confronted by our hemisphere. We are conscious that the positive growth shown in the Americas in past years has yet to resolve the problems of inequity and social exclusion.'' It commits countries to establish the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) by no later than 2005 and make ''concrete progress'' by the end of the decade. That puts more pressure on President Clinton to persuade Congress to grant him the special ''fast track'' authority he needs to ensure trade deals cannot be amended. Congress denied him fast track last year after labor and environmentalists, two important constituencies of Clinton's Democratic Party, lobbied strongly against fast track. Clinton was especially weakened because it was Washington that pitched the idea of pan-American free trade in 1990 and promoted it at the first Summit of the Americas in 1994. South America upstaged the empty-handed Clinton with initiatives in recent days to link Central American and Andean nations to the increasingly powerful Mercosur customs union that includes Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. The South Americans made it clear they would not enter into the key final phases of the talks without fast track and would press on with regional trade accords without Clinton, if necessary. Mercosur is set to start trade talks with the European Union next year. The 34-page summit action plan is often vague, with no deadlines. Perhaps the most concrete advances are in the fight against drugs and in improving education to reducing poverty. Leaders agreed to a multilateral drug effort, mandating a body under the Organization of American States (OAS) -- the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission -- to evaluate each country's anti-drug efforts. For 12 years the U.S. government has issued an annual list to Congress on whether drug-producing or transit countries are helping in the war on drugs. Those blacklisted or decertified face economic sanctions. But the process has done little to stop billions of dollars of drugs entering the United States each year and deeply alienated Latin Americans, who see the certification process as an example of Yankee heavy-handedness. U.S. anti-drug chief Barry McCaffrey has stressed commitment to the multinational effort but said Washington would continue to comply with certification because it was federal law. Convincing Congress to forfeit the process is seen as an uphill battle. At the center of efforts on poverty is a three-year, $6 billion program of World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank loans aimed at expanding primary education to all children in the region and secondary education to 75 percent by 2010. ''It is the most effective mechanism to guarantee a real equality of opportunities,'' Chilean President Eduardo Frei told delegates at the closing conference. Presidents also endorsed the launch of a training center for judges and prosecutors and a special OAS monitor for freedom of expression. Since 1994, about 200 journalists have been killed while investigating regional threats like corruption and drugs. While there was no mention of Cuba in the declaration and the U.S. team played down the issue, Latin America often appeared to be chafing at the U.S. position. Several presidents raised it with Clinton and many Latin American nations are critical of the U.S. position, favoring more open dialogue to achieve democratic change on the island. Chile said Saturday it will even consider a free trade agreement with Cuba. Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien announced he would visit Cuba soon to meet Fidel Castro. The visit would underline a growing stand in the Americas against isolating Cuba as the hemisphere moves forward in commerce and other multilateral efforts. Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.