PM Manning: TT embodies FTAA spirit

PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning said Trinidad and Tobago’s efforts to forge ahead through uncharted economic waters provides ample testimony that this country “represents the spirit of the Free Trade Areas of the Americas (FTAA)” and this is one reason why the FTAA Secretariat should be located in Port-of-Spain. Addressing a reception on Tuesday night at his La Fantasie residence for the vice trade ministers of 34 FTAA nations, the Prime Minister said despite the global economic slowdown and poor economic performance in Latin America and the Caribbean, TT’s economic performance over the last nine years “is testimony to the fact that under the correct circumstances, even small, western hemispheric, developing economies can derive meaningful gains from the multilateral trading system.

TT not only embodies the collective aspirations of the small developing economies of the hemisphere and the political will that is needed to make this integration process a reality, but it also represents the essence of the spirit of the FTAA and the principles on which it has been premised,” Manning declared. Recalling the FTAA’s genesis at the Miami Summit of the Americas in 1994, the Prime Minister said it was fitting that the 15th meeting of the Trade Negotiating Committee of the FTAA was being held in TT and outlined the reasons why this country is “the natural home of the FTAA.” Manning urged the assembled delegates not to be downcast about the “collapse at Cancun” and hinted that frustration with the lack of progress at the multilateral arena has set the stage for “the emergence of bilateral and regional free trade agreements as possible first-best options for fostering trade-led socio-economic growth and development and the alleviation of poverty.”

He said TT and Caricom, while reaffirming their commitment to the ministerial mandate, believe that under the present circumstances, the scope of the FTAA should be reduced “while retaining the schedule would represent a prudent means of moving forward. “Given the current status quo, this overarching agreement would provide the basis for a series of bilateral agreements which seek to deepen the integration process while safeguarding against any glacial progress at the multilateral level,” Manning stated. The Prime Minister hinted “it might very well be that given the recent turn of events in the multi-lateral trading system, the economies of the western hemisphere seem headed along what could emerge as the preferred path to economic growth and development.”
The FTAA summit ends tomorrow.