Oct. 30 - In the growing debate over a Free Trade Area of the Americas pact, the small Caribbean nation of Trinidad-Tobago added a new issue Wednesday: how to decide where to put the headquarters.
A Trinidad-Tobago official called for a vote by all 34 FTAA nations on a site, a method that would help it reel in support offered by 13 fellow Caribbean Community nations to host the prestigious office in the island's capital, Port-of-Spain.
Miami and other rival cities in the Americas had expected a decision by consensus on all FTAA issues, including the headquarters, leaving room to negotiate more with Caricom and others on the site.
"We are in favor of a process of voting, not in favor of consensus," Trinidad-Tobago Consul Harold Robertson told an Americas' conference in Coral Gables. "That's an issue we hope the trade ministers will address in Miami next month."
The question showed the growing complexity of debates on free trade, as trade ministers from all nations in the America and the Caribbean except Cuba prepare to meet in downtown Miami from Nov. 19-21 to hammer out details for an FTAA slated to start in 2005.
Those thorny questions dominated talks Wednesday at the seventh annual Americas Conference in Coral Gables, sponsored by The Miami Herald and attended by more than 300 people.
El Salvador President Francisco Flores, a long-time free-trade advocate, described the FTAA tensions as typical of the fatigue and doubts that mountain-climbers feel mid-journey, when their ambitious start seems long ago and the summit distant.
"The wise thing to do is to listen to the criticism and opposition, and once everyone has their say, to take out the maps, realize how much one has advanced, refresh the vision and with a strong conviction, reunite the energy of the group for the last, consistent effort and reach the summit," Flores said. "That is what leadership is all about."
Economist Antonio Villamil, a key economic adviser to Gov. Jeb Bush, called an FTAA more needed than ever, since the accord would strengthen the separate economies of the Americas region at a time of growing competition from Europe and Asia, especially from low-cost China.
"If we want to continue with these divisions, then both the European Union, with 10 more countries, and China, will eat our lunch," said Villamil. "Together we rise, or divided we fall."
Furthermore, the Americas need urgent bold economic action amid growing social unrest and challenges to democracy, evident in upheaval that prompted the resignation of Bolivia's elected president earlier this month, said Eric Farnsworth, a vice president of the New York-based Council of the Americas business advocacy group.
"Ladies and gentlemen, there is no plan B," Farnsworth said. "Without FTAA, the toolbox is essentially bare."
Debate over FTAA spilled out of the conference halls Wednesday, too, when about 20 people representing South Floridians for Fair Trade and Global Justice protested near the Biltmore Hotel. The group wants more citizen input into trade pacts, arguing big business now holds too much sway.
The two-day conference wound up Wednesday with Nicaragua's President Enrique Bolaņos calling for speedy approval of a U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement now being negotiated.
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