ISDS Case Map
FTAA
Free Trade Area of the Americas
A two-day summit meeting of leaders of 34 Western Hemisphere nations attended by President Bush was drawing to a close here on Saturday without a clear agreement on when and how to resume stalled talks aimed at achieving a hemispherewide free trade agreement.
Leaders debating whether to revitalize talks on a free trade zone spanning the Americas ended their two-day meeting Saturday without an agreement.
Anti-American demonstrators torched storefronts and battled police Friday in this Atlantic resort following a large, peaceful protest, spearheaded by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, over President Bush's plans to revive a free trade accord at a regional summit.
The 3rd Peoples' Summit is closing Thursday its three marathonic days of searching for an alternative model to neoliberalism with a hemispheric demonstration repudiating US President George W Bush.
It's Bush vs. Chavez as 33 heads of state meet Friday for Summit of the Americas.
The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) will become a reality only if the United States allows increased market access for Brazilian agriculture and competitive manufactures and if Brazil reciprocates by opening its market to foreign competition in goods and services.
"The FTAA has stalled, I agree," Bush said on Tuesday. "On the other hand, at this point in time, the Doha round really trumps the FTAA as a priority, because the Doha round not only involves our neighborhood, it involves the whole world."
From November 4-5th, 2005, the heads of state of 34 countries in the Americas will meet in Mar del Plata, Argentina, to push the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) forward. One big issue at the helm this year are the bilaterals - otherwise known as the FTAA's babies - which establish free trade agreements on smaller scales.
Dozens of business groups from throughout the Americas are urging regional governments to adopt economic and trade reforms to give a boost to upcoming World Trade Organisation talks and a stalled regional free trade agreement.
The talks on a future Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) have divided Latin American states into different interest groups prior to the 4th Summit of the Americas to be held in Argentina on Nov. 4-5.
