BBC Monitoring Americas | August 17, 2003 Text of report by Sonia Gonzalez published by Mexican news agency Notimex Managua, 15 August: Mexican Labour Secretary Carlos Abascal said here today that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has yielded positive results with regard to labour matters, although there should have been a more gradual opening-up process in certain areas. Abascal explained the process of producing the labour agreement within the FTA [Free Trade Agreement] among his country, the United States, and Canada, and concluded that "the results of labour and trade relations with our North American partners have been positive". On 15 August the Mexican labour secretary told his colleagues from Central America, Panama, Belize, and the Dominican Republic about the course his country followed in labour legislation and confirmed his government's cooperation with the countries of the area. "We are sharing information and each country can take it and adopt it for its own decision-making," Abascal said in statements to Notimex at the conclusion of a regional meeting of labour ministers in Managua. He said that a more gradual opening in certain areas of the economy would have been desirable in NAFTA, which has been in effect since 1994, an experience that could be used by the Central Americans to better carry out their trade negotiations process with Washington. He explained that since the FTA is already under way Mexico cannot change its course. "For example, an opening-up process that was too fast in some areas of economic activity is something that has already happened." However, he said, "our Central American brothers can take this type of factor into account to make their opening-up process better and get the most benefit for their people from a trade agreement with the United States". Since January 2003, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica have been jointly conducting a series of rounds of negotiations with the United States with the goal of achieving an eventual FTA that could be in effect in the year 2005. "We are saying that in some sectors of Mexican industry a more gradual process would have been desirable; that is all that we can say. Because they (the Central Americans) are creating it themselves, it is a sovereign decision of their peoples," Abascal stated. The Mexican official, who returned to his country this very same Friday [15 August] after a brief visit, insisted on the importance of reducing the imbalances in development that still prevail in our region, for the benefit of millions of poor people. Abascal affirmed that the labour laws of each country have to be respected in a trade agreement, after he rejected standardization in this area. Labour law authority has to be exercised in a sovereign way by each country, and all the procedures that are established in the Free Trade Agreement have to respect that authority, he stressed. The Mexican labour secretary, in his presentation, also emphasized the most attractive Mexican sectors for foreign investment, the recomposition of the workforce, and how the FTA affects the work of women. Mexico has collaborated with Central America on labour competency certification programmes and on the production of statistics and labour information for the formulation of public policies in labour matters, among other things.BBC Monitoring Americas:
