Thread: Vital step for free trade & Ending the USA

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/ne ... 412204.htm

Posted on Thu, Aug. 18, 2005

CAFTA-DR

Vital step for free trade

BY JORGE L. ARRIZURIETA

www.floridaftaa.org

When Congress ratified the Central American Free Trade Agreement last month and President Bush signed the bill into law, the implications went well beyond approving the details of just another trade agreement. The United States of America sent a clear message that the free trade movement in the hemisphere and throughout the world is alive and well.

The passage of CAFTA-DR, which includes the Dominican Republic, will create tremendous momentum for a new wave of key trade agreements involving the United States and our southern neighbors, particularly reigniting talks toward the conclusion of the Free Trade Area of the Americas, which began in Miami a decade ago.

Long-term benefits

Those of us, including Gov. Jeb Bush, who led the fight for CAFTA-DR's passage in Congress were emphatic that a No vote on CAFTA-DR meant No on FTAA. If CAFTA-DR had failed to pass, any momentum for FTAA would have died with it, and Miami's vibrant campaign to house the FTAA's headquarters, known as the Permanent Secretariat, would have abruptly ended.

In the end, though, the majority of Florida's House members understood the long-term economic benefits of free trade in the hemisphere and ratified CAFTA-DR in an overwhelming fashion with 70 percent of the Florida delegation supporting the bill. Florida's two U.S. senators are to be commended for their leadership and vote to ensure passage, providing strong bipartisan support of this important treaty.

Now negotiators can return to the bargaining table in good faith to resume the FTAA process and work toward creation of the world's most formidable trading partnership, involving 34 democracies with 800 million consumers and a combined gross domestic product of $14 trillion.

`Gateway of the Americas'

Florida is the No. 1 trading partner of all nations in the Western Hemisphere, with the exception of Mexico. Businesses in the state contribute more than 40 percent of the U.S. exports to the region and the state's airports and seaports handle 55 percent of trade between the United States and Central America and 45 percent of U.S.-Caribbean trade.

As the recognized ''Gateway of the Americas,'' Miami is the leading U.S. contender for the FTAA Permanent Secretariat. Most of the CAFTA-DR nations as well as Uruguay have publicly endorsed Miami as their choice for the FTAA secretariat, with Costa Rica and Colombia having pledged to support Miami if Port of Spain and Panama do not proceed with their respective campaigns.

Gov. Bush's vision of rallying Florida's business organizations and chambers of commerce behind the Miami campaign is being realized as leaders throughout the state recognize the benefits of having convenient access to the nerve center where the rules that govern the free-trade agreement would be negotiated and implemented.

Another sign that tremendous economic opportunities in Latin America are about to be awakened occurred last week with the election of Luis Alberto Moreno, Colombia's ambassador to the United States, as president of the Inter-American Development Bank. The IDB has provided more than $100 billion in development loans to Latin America and the Caribbean.

Greater opportunities

Moreno has the vision to ignite economic growth through strong private-sector and entrepreneurial activity, which will strengthen the institutional foundations of freedom and democracy, fight poverty and open greater economic opportunities for all.

Collectively, the nations of the Americas can become a tremendous economic force that individually would be impossible to achieve. That's why CAFTA-DR's passage was so vital as the next step in opening broader trading partnerships and why it must not be the final one.

Jorge L. Arrizurieta is president of Florida FTAA, Inc.

"we the people" need to do a clean sweep and replace ALL politicians and globalists with American Patriots and statesmen . . .