ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN FREE TRADE INTEGRATION IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE
| Jurisdiction | United States |
(Feb 1995)
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN FREE TRADE INTEGRATION IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE
Hughes & Luce, L.L.P.
Dallas, Texas
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A. INTRODUCTION
B. THE SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS
C. IMPLEMENTATION OF WESTERN HEMISPHERE TRADE INTEGRATION
D. CHILE'S ASCENSION TO NAFTA
E. CONCLUSION 10
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A. INTRODUCTION
As we began to gather in Waco, Texas for our Conference on Free Trade for the Americas to discuss the economic integration of the Western Hemisphere and the extension of NAFTA to our Latin American neighbors, participants in the Summit of the Americas to take place in Miami, Florida one month later were in the final stages of finding common ground on a statement of principles and an action plan to be proposed at that historic conference.
B. THE SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS
On October 5, 1994, President Bill Clinton sent out formal invitations to the 33 other democratically-elected leaders in the Western Hemisphere to attend a conference in Miami, Florida in December. The Summit of the Americas Conference which took place on December 9-11, 1994, was the first hemispheric gathering since 1967. Said President Clinton in advance of the Summit, "the United States has an opportunity to cement a lasting trade relationship with its neighbors. The region's nations also appear ready to make a unique commitment to defend democracy and improve the hemispheric quality of life". To insure a Summit of action and not just words leaders from each nation met extensively prior to the Summit to work out and agree upon a 14-point agenda for the Summit. To emphasize the importance of the Summit, President Clinton, on his way to the Miami conference, signed the recently ratified GATT Treaty at the headquarters of Organization of American States.
Trade and democracy were not, however, the only issues to be discussed at the Summit. When President Clinton originally called the regional Summit, he spoke of it as an opportunity to create a hemisphere-wide tradeblock that would promote environmental protection.
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Supporting the environmental element of the Summit, several pre-conference meetings were held in Canada, Argentina and Nicaragua. In October, the Canadian National Roundtable on the Environment and Economy brought government and non-government organizations' ("NGOs") representatives together to discuss the environmental issues relating to the Summit. In August 1994, the Argentine government also brought together government and NGOs to discuss trade and environment issues for the Summit. And perhaps most astonishing, the seven Central American leaders met in Minagua, Nicaragua in October 1994, and formed the Alliance for Sustainable Development, a coalition which the United States was to join at the end of the Summit when the eight members signed an environmental sustainable development cooperation accord called Conjunto Centroamericano-USA or CONCAUSA. Although much of the focus at the Summit of the Americas was on trade issues and the political stability necessary for maintaining democracy in the hemisphere, certain steps toward regional collaboration for the sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity in the western hemisphere were also achieved. The agenda of the Summit of the Americas called upon Western Hemisphere nations' leaders to address three key issues: (i) economic integration and trade liberalization; (ii) the strengthening of democratic institutions; and (iii) assuring sustainable development.
On Saturday, December 10, 1994, the 34 nations of the western hemisphere agreed to establish the Free Trade Area of the Americas across the western hemisphere by the year 2005. This Free Trade Area would cover a market of more than 850 million people and $13 trillion in consumer buying in goods and services. The leaders also agreed to strengthen the region's emerging democracies and to protect its environment. To achieve the goals the parties signed a Declaration of Principles containing 23 separate and specific initiatives and a Plan Of Action containing more than 100 action steps. These initiatives and actions will be pursued through lower-level working groups and regional meetings of second-level government officials over the next several months and will be known as the Miami Process.
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Although the primary focus of the Declaration of Principles is on hemispheric economic integration, it recognizes that continued economic progress depends on sustainable development, as well as sound economic policies in dynamic private sectors. The Declaration also states that "[F]ree trade and increased economic integration are key factors for raising standards of living, improving...
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