TO: Chair of the Committee of Government Representatives on the Participation of Civil Society c/o Secretaria del Area de Libre Comercio de las Americas (ALCA)
Hotel Caesar Park Panama Via Israel y Calle 77
San Francisco
Ciudad de Panama República de Panama
Re: Open Invitation to Civil Society - Executive Summary

Dear Sir/Madam:

The Free Trade Area of the Americas Committee strongly believes that if the end objective of the Open Invitation is to foster transparency through the involvement and participation of the various sectors of Civil Society, you should consider incorporating a subscription e-mail service into the FTAA website. The service would use push technology to send notice of periodic updates, news briefs and announcements on the FTAA negotiations to interested readers, and solicit their feedback and comments.

A subscriber based e-mail service would be the most effective mechanism to disseminate information about the FTAA process and its many accomplishments to the sectors of Civil Society. With a simple registration process, a one-page message (in an official FTAA language) can be sent to literally millions of readers, inviting them to visit the site for more information. By merely clicking on the hyperlink, the subscriber can directly access that information on the FTAA website.

The World Trade Organization's website (www.wto.org) and Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade website (www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca) are two fine examples of international trade sites that use such a subscriber service. While we have included hard copy printouts of the actual sites and e-mails they send (with the relevant areas highlighted for ease of reference), we recommend that you visit them to see them functioning firsthand.

On behalf of the Committee,

Francisco A. Corrales, Esq. Chairman
General Counsel
The AMICAM Group