From Miami to Monterrey: 10 Years,
Four Summits and Enduring Poverty

A special Summit of the Americas starts today in Monterrey, Mexico, and concludes tomorrow, uniting the heads of the 34 nations of the Western Hemisphere (not including Cuba).

The first Summit of the Americas in 1994 evoked the necessity to develop free-trade practices to eradicate "the intolerable and morally unacceptable" poverty that eats away at the continent, an objective that is far from fulfilled 10 years later, despite the advance of regional negotiations to open trade.

The Declaration of Principles of the first Summit, which took place in Miami in December 1994, established the objective of "expanding prosperity through economic integration and free trade" as well as "eradicating poverty and discrimination" in the Americas.

However, while regional free-trade agreements multiply and the Free-Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is planned to be completed by 2005, poverty, unemployment and marginalization continue to be endemic in the Americas, especially in Latin America.

The Summit's original proposal emphasized the elimination of trade barriers and subsidies as "essential to prosperity," and for that reason it was agreed to negotiate a free-trade area by 2005 that would include the nations of the Western Hemisphere (except Cuba) and 870 million consumers from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego.

Since then, negotiations to achieve this objective have continued, as have accords and bilateral or multilateral initiatives to establish free-trade agreements in the region.

A free-trade agreement between Chile and the United States went into effect Jan. 1, while Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala all signed the Central America Free-Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the United States in December. Costa Rica continues negotiations with the United States on several sensitive issues.

Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) is supporting and drawing nearer the Andean Community of Nations (Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela), and incorporated Peru in 2003 as an associated member, a category that implies differences in tariff openings and which also includes Bolivia and Chile.

In the Monterrey Summit of the Americas, beginning today, the United States wants to reaffirm the objective of achieving the FTAA on the agreed date.

Nonetheless, according to diplomatic sources, the negotiations for the final declaration of this Summit of the America run aground precisely over this point. Venezuela and Brazil both are strong critics of the U.S. project of trade liberalization and are opposed to including the FTAA in the final declaration of the Summit.

Despite differences over how to achieve 1994's proposal to open interregional trade, advances on the theme have been obvious.

The goal of eradicating poverty, on the other hand, has seen little advancement. In 2002, according to figures from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Cepal), 220 million Latin Americans, representing 43.4% of the region's population, remained mired in poverty. Standards of living have remained stable since 1997.

Work has gotten scarcer and unemployment affected 10.7% of the urban work force in 2003 - 16.7 million Latin Americans among a labor force of 190 million.

The objective of the Summit of the Americas continues to be "the quest for sustained and equitable economic growth that contributes to long-term development, reduces poverty, eliminates hunger, and elevates the population's standard of living," according to the words the heads of state will sign in Monterrey, 10 years, four Summits and few advances later.
--AFP