Santiago 19 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - In an speech during dinner at the Chilean Museum of Modern Art, president Fernando Henrique Cardoso reinforced yesterday Brazil's intention to work for South American integration and to move forward with talks on the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

By saying "Brazil wants a hemispheric free trade area," Cardoso made a discreet attack on the US which recently imposed restrictions on steel imports - a clear case of protectionism and disobedience of World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

"[Free trade] can only be achieved through reciprocity; it cannot be a one-way street of liberalism," said Cardoso. (AB)