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FTAA.tci/com/10
9 de mayo de 2003

Original: Spanish
Translation: FTAA Secretariat

FTAA - TECHNICAL COMMITTEE ON INSTITUTIONAL ISSUES

Tenth Meeting

Puebla, Mexico, 1-2 May 2003

PRESS COMMUNIQUE

1. The Tenth Meeting of the Technical Committee on Institutional Issues (TCI) was held in the city of Puebla, Mexico, on 1-2 May and chaired by Mr. Mario Matus of Chile. Representatives of 18 countries were in attendance: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad y Tobago, United States, and Venezuela.

2. The agenda adopted for the discussions is contained in the annex.

3. All the topics on the agenda were discussed. The TCI focused its efforts at this meeting on determining how to fulfill the new mandates of the TNC with regard to designing a general structure for the agreement and standardizing the formats of the individual chapters. Hence, the TCI discussed the draft chapter on provisions related to the institutional framework, the costs of implementing the agreement, and the annexes.

4. The TCI reported that since the last meeting, it has received two contributions from Civil Society, which have proven very interesting and constructive for this Committee.

5. The next meeting of the TCI will be held in Puebla, Mexico, on 29-30 May 2003.

FTAA - TECHNICAL COMMITTEE ON INSTITUTIONAL ISSUES

Tenth Meeting

Puebla, Mexico, 1-2 May 2003

AGENDA

1. Approval of the agenda

2. Report from the Chair on the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) Meeting (FTAA.TNC/22)

3. Architecture and structure of the Agreement

A. Discussion of the draft text on general and institutional issues of the FTAA:

INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK
• Article 14: Political body
• Article 15: Executive body
• Article 16. Technical bodies
• Article 17: Common provisions for the executive body and the technical bodies of the FTAA
• Article 18: Administrative Secretariat

COSTS OF IMPLEMENTING THE AGREEMENT
• Article 19: Provision of technical support to FTAA entities
• Article 20: Technical assistance to help countries implement the FTAA Agreement
• Article 21: Financing
• Article 22: Dispute settlement body

ANNEXES
• Implementation of changes approved by the political body
• Remuneration and payment of expenses
• Technical bodies
B. General definitions
C. Table of contents of the Agreement
D. Format of the chapters
E. Others

4. Discussion of the “Preliminary views on the institutions that will need to be established to adequately implement the dispute settlement mechanisms established in the FTAA” submitted by the NGDS to the TCI (FTAA.ngds/03).

5. Discussion of articles considered in previous meetings, particularly:
• Preamble to the FTAA Agreement
• General articles of the FTAA Agreement (Articles 1 to 4)
• Transparency (Articles 6 to 12)
• Treatment of the differences in the levels of development and size of the economies (Article 13)
6. Relations with other FTAA entities and contributions of Civil Society
• NGDS letter
• NGAG letter
• NGADCV letter
• Civil society contributions
7. Other business.
• “Compilation of proposed provisions concerning points of contact, information centers, notifications, consultation, and dissemination of information to the public,” document drafted by the Tripartite Committee.
• New submissions
 
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