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Brazil Min: Bush Visit May Revive FTAA Talks


RIO DE JANEIRO -(Dow Jones)- An early November visit by President George W. Bush to Brazil may revive stalled talks on the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas, or FTAA, Brazil's Trade and Industry Minister Luiz Fernando Furlan said Wednesday, according to the Estado Newswire.

Furlan said the FTAA talks were currently "hibernating," but the issue may be advanced during Bush's visit. Furlan spoke at a seminar at the Foreign Ministry in Brasilia.

Bush will visit Brazil's capital briefly on Nov. 5 and 6, after attending the Summit of the Americas in Mar de Plata, Argentina. The summit will concentrate on labor issues, but the FTAA could be discussed along the sidelines as most of the leaders of 34 North, Central and South American countries will attend the meeting.

The final statement of the Mar de Plata summit, however, won't mention the FTAA, Afonso Jose Sena Cardoso, head of multilateral political coordination of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, said Wednesday in Brasilia, according to the Associated Press.

Brazil and the U.S. are co-chairing the FTAA talks, but both countries are currently paying more attention to the Doha round of World Trade Organization talks than to the FTAA.

Talks about the FTAA - which would be a free-trade area of 800 million people - were launched in 1994, but have stalled on disagreements over U.S. agricultural subsidies and intellectual property issues.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva plans to serve Bush a traditional Brazilian barbecue during his visit, Furlan also said. Brazilian barbecues are famous for their large portions of grilled beef.

After an outbreak this month of the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease in several cattle-ranging properties in the western Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, 43 countries - but not the U.S. - have banned imports of Brazilian beef. The disease isn't harmful to humans.



-By Bernd Radowitz, Dow Jones Newswires; (55 21) 3288 5004; bernd.radowitz@dowjones.com



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 26, 2005 16:16 ET (20:16 GMT)