Reuters
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Reuters) - Trade officials from 34 western hemisphere countries are making steady progress in talks on a regional free trade pact and expect to make a weekend deadline, the chief U.S. negotiator said on Thursday.
The officials, who make up the Trade Negotiations Committee, have been meeting since Tuesday to hammer out a set of recommendations to guide talks on the proposed Free Trade Area of America (FTAA) pact over the next 18 months. The pact would include nations from Canada to Chile.
Peter Allgeier, chief U.S. FTAA negotiator, told Reuters he expected the officials would finish their work in time for a meeting of the hemisphere's trade ministers on Saturday, despite slow progress so far.
The decision to break into two separate groups to cover more ground is "very typical as you get toward the end and time starts to weigh upon people and you've just got a lot of things that you have to get through," Allgeier said.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick is expected to arrive in Buenos Aires on Thursday for the FTAA ministerial meeting, following a stopover in Santiago to discuss progress on a separate U.S.-Chile free trade agreement.
The United States wants a bilateral pact with Chile that will be "a model to the region and the world," Zoellick told the Chilean-American Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday.
Canada, Chile and the United States are pushing for an earlier conclusion to the FTAA talks than the 2005 deadline set by countries six years ago in Miami.
But faced with strong opposition from Brazil and other Latin America countries, U.S. officials say they won't be disappointed if the deadline is not changed.
In addition to the ministerial meeting, Zoellick will hold a series of individual and group meetings with other regional trade officials, U.S. officials said.
U.S. labor and environmental groups have called upon the 34 countries involved in the FTAA talks to release a draft text of the pact which includes any disagreements between countries. It runs more than 400 pages.
Canada, which will host a summit of western hemisphere leaders in Quebec City on April 20-22, has also said it would urge the participating countries to release the documents at the meetings here this week.
The United States has posted summaries of its negotiating positions on the U.S. Trade Representative's Office Web site, which is www.ustr.gov.
Under the rules agreed earlier by western hemisphere countries, "working negotiating documents are not to be released. That's typical for a negotiation," Allgeier said.
Meanwhile, regional business leaders began a two-day meeting that will conclude in a joint session with the 34 trade ministers on Friday.
Labor and environmental groups concerned about the impact of the trade agreement have complained there is no similar forum for them to share their views.:
