Progress in the FTAA Process as of March 2002
The Fifth Meeting of Ministers responsible for trade held in Toronto, Canada, in November 1999, was witness to Negotiating Groups forwarding to the Ministers annotated outlines of their respective FTAA chapters. Pursuant to this these Groups received instruction to begin to flesh these out and to prepare a draft text of their chapters before the next Ministerial in April 2001. These draft chapters were successfully brought to fruition in the specified time-frame. At the end of the second phase of negotiations marked by the Sixth Ministerial meeting, held in Buenos Aires, and the Third Summit of the Americas held in Quebec City in April 2001, Ministers received from the Negotiating Groups a draft text of the FTAA Agreement. The draft chapters, however, are not legally binding because they are still under negotiation; the Text is subject to modification as negotiations progress; and are characterized by 'square brackets' - indicating that different points of view do exist on the Text. |
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The Ministerial Declaration emanating from Buenos Aires (Argentina), in 2001, recommended, and it was subsequently endorsed by Leaders (including those of the OECS) at the Third Summit in Quebec, that negotiations regarding the FTAA Agreement be concluded no later than January 2005 with the entry into force of the same no later than December 2005. These dates signal an intensification of the negotiating process with the aim of achieving a consolidated draft Text emerging from negotiations in the period leading up to 2005.
The tenth meeting of the FTAA TNC is scheduled for 25-27 April, 2002. The tenth meeting of the TNC is critically important as it is scheduled immediately after the April 1, 2002 deadline for submission to the TNC of methods and modalities for negotiations in all Negotiating Groups and immediately preceding the May 15, 2002 initiation of negotiations in all areas. For this reason the upcoming TNC is of critical importance as it is expected that a number of issues pertaining to advancing the FTAA negotiating process, including the initiation of negotiations in all areas on May 15, 2002, will be on the agenda.
The current phase of the FTAA process, in the wake of the Buenos Aires Ministerial, has focused, in the main, on broaching methods and modalities for removing the brackets within the existing draft Text. Work has been progressing in all Negotiating Groups to eliminate the brackets from the respective draft texts and to work on consolidating the texts. Importantly, the pace of negotiations has increased and is likely to become more intense as the May 15 deadline for the start of negotiations approaches. The period starting May 2002 will begin in earnest to move the Texts of the Draft FTAA Chapters to a stage where consensus can be built and agreement be reached on language and substance. This, in turn, will lead the way to August 2002 at which time the submission of a second draft version of consolidated texts for all Negotiating Groups will take place prior to an important November FTAA Trade Ministerial Meeting (VIIth Trade Ministerial - scheduled for Quito, Ecuador).
Please see the attached DRAFT FTAA Agreement as it relates to:
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