Post by Moses on Dec 28, 2004 7:24:43 GMT -5
Latin America pushes trade diplomacy in 2004
www.chinaview.cn 2004-12-28 15:53:49
MEXICO CITY, Dec. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Latin American countries forged ahead in an active diplomacy to improve economic ties and trade with the European Union (EU) and Asia in 2004 while trying to shift their cooperation with the United States from security to economic issues.
Economic development has always been a core issue in domestic politics of Latin American countries plagued by poverty, and therefore creating a better international environment was a fundamental theme for Latin America in the past year.
MAINTAIN CLOSE ECONOMIC TIES WITH EU
During the third EU-Latin America summit held in the Mexican city of Guadalajara in May, 25 members of the just-enlarged EU and33 Latin American countries pledged to join hands in the fight against poverty and accelerate their trade talks.
The EU, the second largest trading partner of Latin America and the largest investor in the area, was committed to donating 35.4 million US dollars for the social development of Latin America during the summit.
Also at the summit, the third since 1999, the EU and Latin American nations adopted a coordinated stance on the Iraq issue and call a central role of the United Nations in Iraq.
Meanwhile, trade talks between the EU and the South American Mercosur trade bloc, grouping Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, entered the fourth year and the Oct. 31 deadline for sealing a deal was extended as the talks stalled over a number of disputes including farm products and industrial goods.
Nonetheless the EU and the Mercosur agreed to hold a ministerial meeting in the first quarter of 2005.
"While progress was made during this meeting, they also agreed that much more is needed to be done to reach the level of ambition that reflects the strategic importance of this agreement to the EU and the Mercosur," said a statement issued on Oct. 20 at the end of the last-ditch talks in Portugal.
The EU and the Mercosur kicked off the negotiations in April 2000 with an aim to create a market of 680 million people and give a huge boost to bilateral trade from the current 40 billion dollars a year.
PUT TRADE WITH ASIA ON FAST TRACK
Trade links between Latin America and Asia were strengthened in 2004 by high-level visits and the 12th APEC leaders' meeting in November.
During Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Latin America from Nov. 11 to Nov. 23, China pledged investments in Argentine energy and infrastructure. Brazil, China's largest trading partner in Latin America, also got a promise to increase its exports of chicken and beef to China, and an agreement to build a natural gaspipeline.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun also spent three days in Brazil ahead of the APEC summit, endorsing a free trade zone for his country with the Mercosur bloc.
Brazil wants to export ethanol fuel and mid-sized airplanes to South Korea and hopes the Asian nation will invest in Brazil's crumbling infrastructure.
Although experts say Latin America still needs to maintain close relationship with the United States, the No. 1 trading partner of the region, Latin American countries clearly want to increase their trade flow to Asia.
From 2001 to 2003 alone, exports from Latin America to Asia rose from 22 billion dollars to 29 billion dollars, an increase of 32 percent, due mainly to China's high economic growth. Latin American exports of raw materials have also increased to countries like South Korea, Japan and Australia.
Chile has started negotiations with China, New Zealand and Turkey in a coordinated strategy aimed at maintaining export levels roughly equal between Asia, the United States and Europe.
"So we are not dependent on a single area of the world," said Mario Matus, a top economic official with the Chilean Foreign Ministry.
TRADE TALKS WITH US GET NOWHERE
While US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has argued that security is the foundation of economic cooperation between the United States and Latin America, signs have showed that Latin America wants the United States to divert more attention to trade and economy.
Some US officials suggested that al Qaida is moving into the region, but Washington offered no evidence. Many Latin American countries said that terrorists can go to the United States directly instead of using the Latin America as a transit.
Meanwhile, Latin American nations called for a fight against all forms of terrorism and condemned lesser-known terrorist acts against Cuba and Venezuela.
In a diplomatic victory for Cuba in November, the Ibero-American summit in Costa Rica denounced the pardon of four persons who tried to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro in 2000. The summit also condemned the killing of a Venezuelan prosecutor, who was probing a 2002 coup against President Hugo Chavez.
Since 2002, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Uruguay have all chosen leftist leaders who challenge the US idea of Latin America as its "backyard".
Among all Latin American and Caribbean countries, only El Salvador has kept its troops in the US military coalition in Iraq. Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic all have withdrawn nearly 800 soldiers from that troubled country over the last year.
The negotiations for a continental Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) pact stalled partly due to the 2004 elections in the United States. Democratic candidate for presidency Sen. John Kerry even wanted to shelve talks on the 34-nation free trade area for more studies.
While the FTAA pact could be years away, with George W. Bush's re-election in November 2004, negotiations over the free trade zone stretching from Alaska to Argentina are likely to go into high gear next year.
www.chinaview.cn 2004-12-28 15:53:49
MEXICO CITY, Dec. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Latin American countries forged ahead in an active diplomacy to improve economic ties and trade with the European Union (EU) and Asia in 2004 while trying to shift their cooperation with the United States from security to economic issues.
Economic development has always been a core issue in domestic politics of Latin American countries plagued by poverty, and therefore creating a better international environment was a fundamental theme for Latin America in the past year.
MAINTAIN CLOSE ECONOMIC TIES WITH EU
During the third EU-Latin America summit held in the Mexican city of Guadalajara in May, 25 members of the just-enlarged EU and33 Latin American countries pledged to join hands in the fight against poverty and accelerate their trade talks.
The EU, the second largest trading partner of Latin America and the largest investor in the area, was committed to donating 35.4 million US dollars for the social development of Latin America during the summit.
Also at the summit, the third since 1999, the EU and Latin American nations adopted a coordinated stance on the Iraq issue and call a central role of the United Nations in Iraq.
Meanwhile, trade talks between the EU and the South American Mercosur trade bloc, grouping Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, entered the fourth year and the Oct. 31 deadline for sealing a deal was extended as the talks stalled over a number of disputes including farm products and industrial goods.
Nonetheless the EU and the Mercosur agreed to hold a ministerial meeting in the first quarter of 2005.
"While progress was made during this meeting, they also agreed that much more is needed to be done to reach the level of ambition that reflects the strategic importance of this agreement to the EU and the Mercosur," said a statement issued on Oct. 20 at the end of the last-ditch talks in Portugal.
The EU and the Mercosur kicked off the negotiations in April 2000 with an aim to create a market of 680 million people and give a huge boost to bilateral trade from the current 40 billion dollars a year.
PUT TRADE WITH ASIA ON FAST TRACK
Trade links between Latin America and Asia were strengthened in 2004 by high-level visits and the 12th APEC leaders' meeting in November.
During Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Latin America from Nov. 11 to Nov. 23, China pledged investments in Argentine energy and infrastructure. Brazil, China's largest trading partner in Latin America, also got a promise to increase its exports of chicken and beef to China, and an agreement to build a natural gaspipeline.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun also spent three days in Brazil ahead of the APEC summit, endorsing a free trade zone for his country with the Mercosur bloc.
Brazil wants to export ethanol fuel and mid-sized airplanes to South Korea and hopes the Asian nation will invest in Brazil's crumbling infrastructure.
Although experts say Latin America still needs to maintain close relationship with the United States, the No. 1 trading partner of the region, Latin American countries clearly want to increase their trade flow to Asia.
From 2001 to 2003 alone, exports from Latin America to Asia rose from 22 billion dollars to 29 billion dollars, an increase of 32 percent, due mainly to China's high economic growth. Latin American exports of raw materials have also increased to countries like South Korea, Japan and Australia.
Chile has started negotiations with China, New Zealand and Turkey in a coordinated strategy aimed at maintaining export levels roughly equal between Asia, the United States and Europe.
"So we are not dependent on a single area of the world," said Mario Matus, a top economic official with the Chilean Foreign Ministry.
TRADE TALKS WITH US GET NOWHERE
While US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has argued that security is the foundation of economic cooperation between the United States and Latin America, signs have showed that Latin America wants the United States to divert more attention to trade and economy.
Some US officials suggested that al Qaida is moving into the region, but Washington offered no evidence. Many Latin American countries said that terrorists can go to the United States directly instead of using the Latin America as a transit.
Meanwhile, Latin American nations called for a fight against all forms of terrorism and condemned lesser-known terrorist acts against Cuba and Venezuela.
In a diplomatic victory for Cuba in November, the Ibero-American summit in Costa Rica denounced the pardon of four persons who tried to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro in 2000. The summit also condemned the killing of a Venezuelan prosecutor, who was probing a 2002 coup against President Hugo Chavez.
Since 2002, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Uruguay have all chosen leftist leaders who challenge the US idea of Latin America as its "backyard".
Among all Latin American and Caribbean countries, only El Salvador has kept its troops in the US military coalition in Iraq. Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic all have withdrawn nearly 800 soldiers from that troubled country over the last year.
The negotiations for a continental Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) pact stalled partly due to the 2004 elections in the United States. Democratic candidate for presidency Sen. John Kerry even wanted to shelve talks on the 34-nation free trade area for more studies.
While the FTAA pact could be years away, with George W. Bush's re-election in November 2004, negotiations over the free trade zone stretching from Alaska to Argentina are likely to go into high gear next year.