AFX European Focus | October 13, 2003
The government is set to appoint a new team to negotiate the creation of the US-sponsored Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and reduce tension with the US authorities, daily O Estado de Sao Paulo reported, citing a government source.
The reshuffle of the negotiating team will strengthen the economy ministry at the expense of the foreign affairs ministry, the report said.
US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick attributed part of the responsibility for the failure of the WTO meeting in Cancun to Brazil's foreign minister, Celso Amorim.
According to O Estado, the current team could be replaced by year-end, with the foreign ministry's secretary-general, Samuel Pinheiro Guimaraes, pushed into the background.
Along with Finance Minister Antonio Palocci, Agriculture Minister Roberto Rodrigues and Development, Industry and Trade Minister Luiz Fernando Furlan are having a key role in the redefinition of Brazil's FTAA strategy.
O Estado noted that Palocci is not more optimistic than Amorim over the possibility of obtaining from the US substantial concessions on the access to its market.
But Palocci believes that, by adopting a strictly defensive strategy and advocating a limited FTAA, Brazil reinforced the most protectionist sectors of the US and enabled the US government to blame Brazil for stalling the negotiations, O Estado said.AFX European Focus:
