AG/RES. 1861 (XXXII-O/02)

AG/RES. 1861 (XXXII-O/02)

TRADE AND INTEGRATION IN THE AMERICAS

(Adopted at the fourth plenary session held on June 4, 2002)

            THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

            HAVING SEEN the report of the Permanent Council and CEPCIDI on the implementation of resolution AG/RES. 1813 (XXXI-O/01);

            RECALLING resolutions AG/RES. 1813 (XXXI‑O/01), AG/RES. 1720 (XXX-O/00), AG/RES. 1689 (XXIX-O/99), AG/RES. 1581 (XXVIII-O/98), AG/RES. 1516 (XXVII-O/97), AG/RES. 1430 (XXVI-O/96), CIDI/RES. 9 (I-E/01), CIDI/RES. 99 (V-O/00), CIDI/RES. 63 (IV-O/99), and CIDI/RES. 46 (III-O/98), entitled “Trade and Integration in the Americas”; AG/RES. 1534 (XXVIII-O/98), “Support for and Follow-up to the Summits of the Americas Initiatives”; AG/RES. 1438 (XXVI-O/96), “Relationship between the Special Committee on Trade and the Inter-American Council for Integral Development”; AG/RES. 1349 (XXV-O/95), “Inter-American Summits Management”; and resolution AG/RES. 1220 (XXIII-O/93), “Establishment of the Special Committee on Trade (SCT)”, in which member states noted that the Organization of American States (OAS) is an appropriate hemispheric forum for dialogue on trade matters;

BEARING IN MIND:

            The Declaration of Santiago of the Second Summit of the Americas in which the Heads of State and Government of the Hemisphere directed their ministers responsible for international trade to begin negotiations for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and reaffirmed their determination to conclude the negotiation of the FTAA no later than 2005, and in which they also reaffirmed their determination to make concrete progress by the end of the twentieth century, and expressed their appreciation for the significant contribution of the Tripartite Committee;

            The Declaration of Quebec City of the Third Summit of the Americas in which the Heads of State and Government of the Hemisphere directed their ministers responsible for international trade “to ensure that negotiations of the FTAA Agreement are concluded no later than January 2005 and to seek its entry into force as soon as possible thereafter but, in any case, no later than December 2005”;

            The Plan of Action of the Third Summit of the Americas in which the Heads of State and Government of the Hemisphere highlighted the need to “ensure full participation of all our countries in the FTAA, taking into consideration the differences in the levels of development and size of the economies of the Hemisphere, in order to create opportunities for the full participation of the smaller economies and to increase their level of development”;

            The Plan of Action of the Third Summit of the Americas in which the Heads of State and Government of the Hemisphere urged the “Tripartite Committee institutions to continue to respond positively to requests for technical support from FTAA entities”; and requested “the institutions, according to their respective internal procedures, to favorably consider requests for technical assistance related to FTAA issues from member countries, in particular from the smaller economies, in order to facilitate their integration into the FTAA process”; and

            The Plan of Action of the Third Summit of the Americas in which the Heads of State and Government of the Hemisphere instructed “our representatives in the institutions of the Tripartite Committee to continue securing the allocation of the resources necessary to contribute to the support of the work of the FTAA Administrative Secretariat”;

NOTING:

            The Ministerial Declaration of San José adopted by the Ministers of Trade at their Fourth Ministerial Meeting in San José, Costa Rica, in March 1998, in which they recommended to their Heads of State and Government that they initiate negotiation of the FTAA in accordance with the objectives, principles, structure, venue, and other decisions set forth in their Declaration, and acknowledged and again expressed their appreciation to the Tripartite Committee for the technical and logistical support given during the preparatory phase of the FTAA negotiations, and requested that the respective institutions of the Tripartite Committee continue to provide the appropriate existing resources necessary to respond positively to requests for technical support from FTAA entities, including reallocation of funds for this purpose if necessary;

            The Ministerial Declaration of Toronto adopted by the Ministers of Trade at their Fifth Meeting in Toronto, Canada, in November 1999, in which they “recognize and appreciate the analytical, technical, and financial support that continues to be provided by the institutions comprising the Tripartite Committee…. This support has been essential to the conduct of the negotiations to date, and we ask the institutions of the Tripartite Committee to continue to provide such assistance for FTAA-related matters”; and

            The Ministerial Declaration of Buenos Aires adopted by the Ministers of Trade at their Sixth Ministerial Meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in April 2001, in which they “appreciate the analytical, technical, and financial contributions made by the Tripartite Committee … to the different FTAA entities. [They] acknowledge that this support has been important to the conduct of the negotiations to date, and [they] encourage these institutions to continue to collaborate in the process of Hemispheric integration”;

CONSIDERING:

            That economic diversification and integration, trade liberalization, and market access constitute one of the priorities established in the Strategic Plan for Partnership for Development 2002-2005, and that the process of creating the FTAA is a fundamental element in this context;

            That in Doha, in November 2001, the WTO member countries approved the Doha Development Agenda launching a new round of multilateral trade negotiations scheduled to conclude not later than January 1, 2005, the same deadline set for the completion of the FTAA negotiations;

            That in Doha the WTO member countries recognized that trade-related technical cooperation and capacity building are core elements of the development dimension of the multilateral trading system;

            That in the Doha Ministerial Declaration Ministers endorsed the “New Strategy for WTO Technical Cooperation: Technical Cooperation for Capacity Building, Growth and Integration” (WT/COMTD/W/90, September 21, 2001) and that the OAS is explicitly mentioned as a WTO partner in the strategy for Latin America and the Caribbean as follows: “Assisting the countries in their economic integration processes. This includes preparations and negotiations on a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) to show to the officials involved in regional integration negotiations the importance and extent of their countries’ multilateral commitments and the necessity to strive for WTO consistency in regional agreements. The principal partner with the WTO in this area would be the OAS”;

            That among the FTAA principles set out in the San Jose Ministerial Declaration, the Ministers included that the “FTAA Agreement will be consistent with the rules and disciplines of the WTO” and reiterated the commitment of the participating countries to multilateral rules and disciplines, in particular Article XXIV of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 and its Uruguay Round Understanding, and Article V of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS); and

            REAFFIRMING the commitment of the Organization of American States to support the process of free trade and economic integration in the Hemisphere, and to reiterate the importance of the contribution of the General Secretariat and, in particular, the Trade Unit to this process,

RESOLVES:

            1.            To take note of the report submitted by the Permanent Council and CEPCIDI on compliance with resolution AG/RES. 1813 (XXXI-O/01), “Trade and Integration in the Americas.”

            2.            To instruct the General Secretariat to:

a. Continue providing analytical support and technical assistance through the Trade Unit, and conducting related studies as part of the Tripartite Committee or as requested by the respective bodies established in the Ministerial Declarations of San José, Toronto, and Buenos Aires under the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) process.

b. Continue providing technical assistance related to FTAA issues to member states that request it, particularly smaller economies, as requested by the Trade Ministers in the Ministerial Declaration of San José, and as reiterated at the ministerial meetings in Toronto and Buenos Aires, and as requested in the Plan of Action of the Third Summit of the Americas.

c. Continue to provide technical assistance in concert with the WTO to support member states’ domestic efforts for mainstreaming trade into national plans for economic development and strategies for poverty reduction as called for in the “New Strategy for WTO Technical Cooperation: Technical Cooperation for Capacity Building, Growth and Integration” endorsed by Trade Ministers in Doha.

d. Assist in developing and strengthening trade capacity building programs of small and less developed states in the region, so that they can participate effectively in trade negotiations, implement their trade commitments, and reap the benefits in terms of economic growth and poverty reduction.

e. Submit, by November 15, 2002, the 2003 annual Work Plan of activities of the Trade Unit to CEPCIDI for its consideration and approval.

f. Continue providing semi-annual written progress reports on the activities of the Trade Unit, including information on its level of budget execution to the Permanent Council and CEPCIDI for their review.

g. Continue its work, through the Trade Unit and its Foreign Trade Information System (SICE), in providing trade and trade-related information to the Hemisphere through its Internet Website; to continue its work in support of the FTAA process by maintaining, as a member of the Tripartite Committee, the official FTAA Website; to maintain, as a member of the Tripartite Committee, on an ongoing basis a calendar of deadlines established by the negotiating groups for inputs from delegations; and to manage, as a member of the Tripartite Committee, the Document Distribution Service (DDS), a secure, confidential, instant, and reliable distribution system of the FTAA negotiation process documents.

            3.            To reiterate support for the collaborative activities on trade and integration of the Trade Unit with the Tripartite Committee, and for those cooperation activities with other specialized regional, subregional, and multilateral organizations and institutions.

            4.            To entrust the Permanent Council with continuing to provide the appropriate resources necessary to respond positively to requests for technical support from FTAA entities, including the reallocation of funds for this purpose if necessary.

            5.            To take note of the important achievements of SICE, in particular the measures taken to broaden its trade and trade-related information and its client base, and to support its continued operations.

            6.            To direct that the mandates in the preceding paragraphs be executed within the allocated resources approved in the program-budget and other resources.

            7.            To request the Permanent Council and CEPCIDI to report to the General Assembly at its thirty-third regular session on the implementation of this resolution.