Brasília, May 19, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - The general undersecretary for South America and negotiator for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), Ambassador Luiz Felipe Macedo Soares, informed yesterday (18) that some final touches are needed for the FTAA to become a reality, and he said he is in favor of a consensus among the interested countries prior to the January, 2005, deadline for establishing the bloc, to keep negotiators from having to accept last-minute counterproposals.

According to the ambassador, Brazil, like the United States, adopted timely measures to reorganize the negotiations, when it realized the need to remove items on which it was impossible for the country to reach an agreement. He affirmed that if the 34 countries wait until the end of the stipulated time period, they will inevitably be forced to accept other negotiators' counterproposals at the last minute, the alternative being no agreement at all.

"We tried to establish a negotiating basis that allows us to keep to the schedule and conclude the negotiations. It is common at conferences to reach the last day and the delegates stay up all night until the next morning, because one cannot leave a negotiation claiming that an agreement was not struck. Countries have a strong aversion to face this type of situation, because it reveals a lack of flexibility in international understandings," the diplomat explained.

From the perspective of the Mercosur, the difficulties in negotiations between Brazil and the United States are mainly centered on agriculture, a sector in which Brazil calls for the elimination of subsidies. The United States regards this negotiation as problematic and says that if subsidized products from Europe entered Brazil, for example, the American government would resort to this practice to compete with the Europeans.

As for services, Brazil has already guaranteed that it is unable to negotiate anything beyond the application of the agreement with the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Ambassador Soares explained that the FTAA is a negotiating body among 34 countries in the Americas and this is the source of difficulties in the negotiations. "It is always an aspect of any negotiation that the parties involved desire the maximum. So, as these negotiations are very broad and complex, and if they are not circumscribed as we are making them, the level of aspiration makes the matter extremely difficult," he contended.

He emphasized that it would be very difficult to establish a free trade area without the participation of Brazil, which possesses leadership in the Mercosur bloc and is of commercial interest to the United States, which has begun negotiations with Central America and Chile.

In the ambassador's assessment, President Lula's foreign policy has helped to advance negotiations in the Mercosur. Last year the government proposed to its Mercosur partners a program that was approved at the Montevideo Summit, creating a timetable of measures that include the task of commercial integration, the establishment of a common external tariff, and the improvement of customs services. Among the steps being analyzed for adoption by the Mercosur are the creation of a common legislature and a common currency.

Soares recalled that the government's foreign policy has also stimulated progress in relations with China. He disclosed that the President of Argentina, Néstor Kirschner, is expected to travel to China at the end of June to conclude a baseline agreement for the negotiation of an agreement in the sphere of the Mercosur. Argentina currently exercises the presidency of the bloc.

Translator: David Silberstein