FTAA Negotiations Continue Despite War

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, April 09, 2003

FTAA Negotiations Continue Despite War

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The war on Iraq did not affect the negotiations of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), but some Brazilian entrepreneurs have began to consider whether to favor the bilateral trade agreements, local press reported.

"Nothing has changed the pace of negotiations, and we work despite the war," Brazilian Foreign Ministry's consultant and coordinator of the FTAA negotiations Tovar Nunes told the local daily Estado de Sao Paulo Tuesday.

Nevertheless, some Brazilian entrepreneurs who have been interviewed by the local press believed the conflict would have a geopolitical impact that could accelerate or complicate the hemispherical integration.

For fear that Brazil would lose its power in regional and multilateral organizations, there has been a growing favor of bilateral agreements, said the press.

Local entrepreneur Raul Sulzbacher, president of the Council of Foreign Representatives of the Sao Paulo Trade Federation, said that his council, aiming at strengthening bilateral relations with such nontraditional allies as Ecuador, Nicaragua, Morocco, Indonesia and Bangladesh, has established an international committee to promote trade with small and medium-sized enterprises in those countries.

Brazil and the United States have been co-chairing the FTAA negotiations since last November, and Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim is scheduled to meet US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick in May.

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