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Western Hemispheric Leaders Begin Summit in Canada
Leaders from the Western Hemisphere kicked off their summit Friday in Quebec City to discuss how to integrate their economies into a largest open market in the world.
The April 20-22 Summit of the Americas brings together 34 leaders of the American countries -- all but Cuba -- in the French-speaking Quebec City in a bid to create the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) by January 2005.
Top on the agenda are how to promote democracy, create prosperity and realize human potentials in the Americas, organizers said.
The opening ceremony were delayed twice due to major clashes between police and violent demonstrators. Protesters tore down part of the security fence near the summit venue and police fired tear gas.
Beginning Thursday, more than 6,000 Canadian police officers and 1,200 Canadian military forces were guarding summit sites in the city, divided by a three-meter-high metal chain-link fence.
The fence, which runs some 6 kilometers long, has been erected around parts of the historic old city that contain the summit sites. Dubbed "the wall of shame" by activists, it is seen as a symbol of the deep divisions over the FTAA.
FTAA proponents said tearing down trade barriers will create jobs and alleviate poverty among the 800 million people of the Americas. Opponents, who include labor and human rights groups as well as militant anti-capitalists, said the FTAA will help big corporations get richer by exploiting the poor. Destruction of the environment will also be hastened, they said.
The stakes are high at this Summit of the Americas; so are the risks. The FTAA, which would take effect in four years, would abolish most tariffs within the Western Hemisphere and bring hopes of export wealth with fears of crippling competition.
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