Executive Summary

This document offers a number of general thoughts on the proposal to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), with respect to the economic and social circumstances in which the majority of the region’s countries find themselves. Attention is drawn to the worsening of poverty and deprivation during the period of adjustment and structural change in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the persistence of wide gaps between groups of countries, particularly in comparison to the economies of the United States and Canada. Creation of the FTAA offers advantages to our economies in terms of access to markets and capital, and, above all, to the technological advances being created around the world. It also brings risks, however, which can be overcome through a series of negotiations on trade, investment, labor migration, etc., seeking to benefit participants with the phasing-in of tariff reduction or elimination over reasonable periods, and programs to promote poverty reduction and create human capital -- all under a framework intended to ensure harmonization of national policies and a regional free trade strategy. Three proposals are made for the inclusion of negotiations on the migration of unskilled and skilled workers; creation of a hemispheric fund for eradicating poverty; and a coordinated effort to promote agricultural development among the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.