Free Trade Area of the Americas - FTAA

español français português

 
Ministerial
Declarations
Trade Negotiations
Committee
Negotiating
Groups
Special
Committees
Business
Facilitation
Civil
Society
Trade&Tariff
Database
Hemispheric
Cooperation
Program

Home Countries Sitemap A-Z list Governmental Contact Points

 
 
          Ministerial Declaration of Denver


SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS
TRADE MINISTERIAL
JOINT DECLARATION
DENVER, COLORADO
JUNE 30, 1995
 


INTRODUCTION

1. We, the Ministers responsible for trade representing the 34 nations which participated in the Summit of the Americas (SOA), 1 met in Denver for the first Trade Ministerial meeting mandated by our Heads of State and Government. We agreed to begin immediately al work program to prepare for the initiation of negotiations of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) in which barriers to trade and investment will be progressively eliminated. Negotiations will be concluded no later than 2005.

2. We examined approaches for constructing the FTAA which will build one existing subregional and bilateral arrangements in order to broaden and deepend hemispheric economic integration and to bring the agreements together. We will strive to maximize market openness through high levels of discipline as we build upon existing agreements in the Hemisphere. We agreed to ensure that the FTAA will: be fully consistent with the provisions of the Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO Agreement); be balanced and comprehensive in scope, covering among others, all areas included in the SOA Plan of Action; not raise barriers to other countries; and represent a single undertaking comprising mutual rights and obligations.

3. In view of the wide differences in levels of development and size of economies, we will actively look for ways to provide opportunities to facilitate the integration of the smaller economies and increase their level of development.

4. We recognized the importance to our nations of achieving macroeconomic stability and the efforts being made by countries in our Hemisphere to achieve such stability.


INITIAL WORK PROGRAM

5. Based on decisions made at the Summit of the Americas, we decided to initiate preparation for active negotiations. In order to meet our Heads' of State and Government commitments for constructing the FTAA, we recognized the need for immediate preparatory work in the Hemisphere and therefore are establishing working groups in the following areas: Market Access; Customs Procedures and Rules of Origin; Investment; Standards and Technical Barriers to Trade; Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures; Subsidies, Antidumping and Countervailing Duties; and the working group on the Smaller Economies.

6. The overall program of each working group should include the identification and examination of existing trade-related measures in each area, with a view to identifying possible approaches to negotiations. We are providing overall guidance, including a beginning timetable and initial coordinators, for each working group in the Annex. We will receive reports and determine at the March 1996 Trade Ministerial meeting the next steps to be taken in each area, including an appropriate timetable for further work.

7. At the March 1996 Trade Ministerial, we will establish working groups and their terms of reference in the following areas: Government Procurement; Intellectual Property Rights; Services; and Competition Policy.

8. All Working Groups will be open to the participation of all nations. We direct our Vice Ministers to meet, as needed, before the March 1996 Trade Ministerial to coordinate the work and to review progress of the working groups, and ask that the host of the March 1996 Trade Ministerial chair such meetings. We ask the tripartite committee -- the OAS, the IDB and ECLAC 2 -- to provide analytical support, technical assistance, and relevant studies within their respective areas of competence, as may be requested by the working groups.


REPORTS ON WORK UNDERWAY

9. We received reports on the status of work undertaken in the various trade and investment fora and noted the entry into force of the MERCOSUR Customs Union on January 1, 1995; the entry into force of the common external tariff among the Andean Group countries on February 1, 1995; the entry into force of free trade agreements between Mexico and Costa Rica on January 1, 1995, Mexico and Bolivia on January 1, 1995, Chile and Ecuador on January 1, 1995, and the Group of Three (Mexico, Colombia, and Venezuela) on January 1, 1995; the scheduled accession of Suriname to the Caribbean Community on July 4, 1995; and the discussions within other subregional groups on strengthening and broadening economic integration in the Hemisphere.

10. The Special Committee on Trade (SCT) of the OAS submitted an initial report on its activities. We commended the SCT, which last convened in Montevideo on June 14-15, 1995, for completing the first stage of a compendium and a comparative analysis of integration agreements in the Hemisphere, and the preliminary study on tariffs and rules of origin. We look forward to receiving the full report of the SCT at the March 1996 Trade Ministerial. We stressed the importance of the SCT's analyses in the preparatory phase of constructing the FTAA and of work by the tripartite committee -- the OAS, IDB, and ECLAC -- in providing information for our subsequent decisions on future work for our governments.


OTHER MATTERS

11. We are committed to transparency in the FTAA process. As economic integration in the Hemisphere proceeds, we welcome the contribution of the private sector and appropriate processes to address the protection of the environment and the further observance and promotion of worker rights, through our respective governments.


FUTURE MINISTERIAL MEETINGS

12. We accepted the invitation of the Government of Colombia to host the next Trade Ministerial to be held in March 1996. On that occasion, we will establish the date and venue of the third Trade Ministerial.


ANNEX I

ACTION PLAN FOR NEW WORKING GROUPS:

We instruct each working group below to complete a report for presentation to the March 1996 Trade Ministerial, including recommendations for subsequent action.

I. THE WORKING GROUP ON MARKET ACCESS WILL:

  • 1. Construct and organize in the most efficient manner possible a comprehensive data base on market access barriers (tariffs and nontariff measures as required for the WTO Integrated Data Base) in the Hemisphere covering all industrial and agricultural products, using the format of the WTO Integrated Data Base;

    2. Make specific recommendations for conducting market access negotiations.

II. THE WORKING GROUP ON CUSTOMS PROCEDURES AND RULES OF ORIGIN WILL:

  • 1. Compile in the most efficient manner possible a comprehensive inventory of Hemisphere customs procedures and determine the feasibility of publishing a Hemisphere Guide to Customs Procedures; develop features that are fundamental to an efficient and transparent system of rules of origin, including nomenclature and certificates of origin;

    2. Identify areas for technical cooperation in customs operation, such as connections among computerized systems and the prevention of fraud;

    3. Recommend a specific approach for Hemisphere-wide simplification of customs procedures;

    4. Make specific recommendations for conducting negotiations on rules of origin.

In view of the different expertise required to work on Customs Procedures on the one hand, and Rules of Origin on the other, the members of this Working Group should consider the most efficient way to ensure participation of the appropriate experts.

III. THE WORKING GROUP ON INVESTMENT WILL:

  • 1. Create an inventory of investment agreements and treaties, and the protection therein, that exist in the region;

    2. Compile in the most efficient manner possible an inventory of investment regimes in the region and, on the basis of this information, determine areas of commonality and divergence and make specific recommendations.

IV. THE WORKING GROUP ON STANDARDS AND TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE WILL:

  • 1. Recommend specific ways to enhance transparency, especially in standards development;

    2. Compile information on the bodies that exist which are charged with conformity assessment to technical regulations in the Hemisphere, and those organizations that accredit such bodies;

    3. Recommend methods to promote understanding of the WTO Agreement on Standards and Technical Barriers to Trade, including through technical assistance;

    4. Make recommendations on product testing and certification, with a view to mutual recognition agreements.

V. THE WORKING GROUP ON SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY (SPS) MEASURES WILL:

  • 1. Create an inventory of all agreements on SPS in the Hemisphere and compile in the most efficient manner possible an inventory of SPS regimes in the region;

    2. Recommend specific ways to enhance transparency and information-sharing and improve understanding of laws and regulations that affect trade flows in the region;

    3. Identify practices that may need improvement, and make recommendations for their improvement;

    4. Promote understanding of the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, including through technical assistance, and recommend measures for the effective implementation of this Agreement.

    5. Enhance mutual understanding of the scientific basis for SPS certification procedures, with a view to recommend ways to promote recognition of certificates among countries of the Hemisphere.

    6. Compile by the most efficient means possible the methods used for risk assessment in the Hemisphere, with a view to work toward common approaches.

VI. THE WORKING GROUP ON SUBSIDIES, ANTIDUMPING AND COUNTERVAILING DUTIES WILL:

  • 1. Identify agricultural export subsidies and other export practices with similar effects on Hemispheric trade;

    2. Recommend ways to address all trade-distorting export practices for agricultural products that are traded in or with the Hemisphere;

    3. Promote understanding of WTO obligations in the area of subsidies, and begin to compile an inventory of subsidies practices in the Hemisphere.

    4. Review information on the dumping and subsidies laws of countries in the Hemisphere;

    5. Exchange views on the application and operation of trade remedy laws regarding subsidies and dumping and develop recommendations for further work.

VII. THE WORKING GROUP ON SMALLER ECONOMIES WILL:

  • 1. Identify and assess the factors affecting the participation of smaller economies in the FTAA and the expansion of trade and investment stimulated therefrom;

    2. Identify and examine ways to facilitate the adjustment of the smaller economies to the FTAA process, including the promotion and expansion of their trade, and provide recommendations on measures to be taken and issues to be taken into account in the negotiations of the FTAA;

    3. Request the IDB, ECLAC, the OAS and other relevant institutions to provide pertinent information on their activities to facilitate integration of the smaller economies in the Hemisphere.

INITIAL WORKING GROUP COORDINATORS

We have agreed that the first meeting of each Working Group will be arranged by the following coordinators, which will inform all countries in the Hemisphere of the proposed initial meeting:

Market Access: El Salvador
Customs Procedures and Rules of Origin: Bolivia
Investment: Costa Rica
Standards and Technical Barriers to Trade: Canada
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures: Mexico
Subsidies, Antidumping and Countervailing Duties: Argentina
Smaller Economies: Jamaica

Footnotes

1 Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, the United States of America, and Venezuela.

2 Representatives of the Organization of American States, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) were invited as observers.

 

 
countries sitemap a-z list governmental contact points