Trade Ministers in Toronto.

• Author: Conaway, Janelle

DESPITE CHALLENGES THAT have affected some countries in the Americas--including natural disasters, financial turbulence, and economic downturns--trade and investment flows have generally been maintained and free-trade negotiations continue on track, according to the Hemisphere's trade ministers.

"We are convinced that the commitment of our countries to open economies, market-based principles, and rules-based trading systems will contribute to a rapid recovery and growth in the most-affected economies," they said in a declaration issued at the close of the Fifth Trade Ministerial Meeting, held last November in Toronto, Canada.

The meeting brought together the thirty-four nations that are in the process of negotiating an agreement to create a single trade zone--the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)--stretching from the Yukon to Patagonia. The trade ministers agreed that "we are on our way to completing our work by 2005."

The FTAA negotiations are providing the impetus for greater liberalization, the ministers said, adding that economic integration is advancing not only on a hemisphere-wide level, but also subregionally and bilaterally, as well as through unilateral liberalization measures in some countries. The ministers instructed trade negotiators to examine ways to take into account...