Agência Brasil
Rio de Janeiro – The Free Trade Area of the Americas negotiations are at an impasse and the solution is no longer just a technical matter, declared minister of Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim, speaking at the American Chamber of Commerce on Monday.
For Brazil and Mercosur the most important aspect of the FTAA is the need to move ahead in the areas of market access in general, and specifically in agriculture, said the minister. He added that it was essential to avoid having any progress in market access neutralized by subsidies.
Amorim said that thanks to the G-20, "we have never been closer to achieving real advances in dealing with the problem of subsidies." But he added that it was more important to work toward broad advances, for example in achieving an effective industrial policy, than in gaining a quota for one or another single product. He said excessive limitations on government procurement and domestic content requirements for investments were examples of how the chance to achieve an industrial policy could get bogged down.
The minister admitted that the services sector was difficult to negotiate, but he denied Brazil was unwilling to negotiate, pointing out that talks with the European Union on services were progressing nicely. He said Brazil wanted talks with the US to be Mercosur-wide (known as the 4+1 formula) and then include other FTAA countries. He said he preferred that method to the US plan to negotiate specific items at the multilateral level.
Amorim said another problem in FTAA talks was intellectual property, pointing out that contrary to what the US ws saying, Brazil did not have trouble enforcing World Trade Organization intellectual property norms. He said the rub was in complying with the law, adding that Brazil had no interest in building up a pirate industry. He added that technical cooperation and financing would be welcome.
Amorim said it was essential for the US to understand that some things cannot be resolved at this time. He concluded by saying that an agreement that was mutually beneficial was possible if it included market access, balancing the benefits and sacrifices for all.