On September 26,
2003, in Santiago, Chile, the countries participating in the Free Trade Area of
the Americas (FTAA) held the second in a series of public issue meetings with
civil society from around the hemisphere. The topic of the meeting was Services
, and was hosted by the Government of Chile. FTAA
governments from 15 countries met with civil society participants to discuss a
broad range of views on the FTAA services negotiations, moderated by the Chair
of the FTAA Committee of Government Representatives on the Participation of
Civil Society (SOC), Luis Fernando Peredo Rojas, Vice Minister of Industry from
Bolivia. A number of FTAA services negotiators from countries including the
United States, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru were also in attendance to
hear the perspectives of the public, as well as the FTAA Chair of the
Negotiating Group on Services, Hilary Hugh Deveaux of the Bahamas.
Over 120 people
participated, including FTAA government officials, NGOs, consumer groups,
academics, professional associations and industry representatives, sub-federal
government officials and university students from Argentina, Bahamas, Brazil,
Canada, Costa Rica, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico,
Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, the United States, and Venezuela.
Representatives of the U.N. Economic Commission on Latin America, the
Interamerican Development Bank, and the Organization of American States were
also present.
The United States led a
private sector delegation to the civil society meeting which included Carlos
Martel of the State of Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism,
Alixandre Schijman of Time Warner, and Steve Solot of the Motion Picture
Association.
The format of the meeting
for each services topic included a presentation by a government representative
and a presentation by a civil society representative, followed by an open
audience debate. Civil society written statements and a report of the Services
Issue Meeting with Hemispheric Civil Society will be included in a report to
Vice Ministers and provided to FTAA Trade Ministers at the next Ministerial
Meeting in Miami, Florida in November 2003.
The next FTAA Issue
Meetings with civil society will be held in 2004 in the Dominican Republic on
the topic of Intellectual Property Rights; and in the United States on the topic
of Industrial and Consumer Goods Market Access, with a special session on Small
and Medium-Sized Business.