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Mexico's Fox: FTAA Possible Without Dissenting Countries

MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina -(Dow Jones)- Twenty-nine countries in favor of a planned Free Trade Area of the Americas may establish it without the participation of five dissenting countries, Mexican President Vicente Fox said Friday.

Fox said these pro-FTAA countries - which include the U.S., Mexico, Canada and Chile - are discussing an alternative agreement.

The five dissenting nations include the four members of the South American trade group Mercosur - Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay - which have opposed plans to establish a deadline for relaunching FTAA talks, as well as Venezuela, which outright opposes the region-wide trade deal.

Fox said he was "very unsatisfied" with the handling of the Summit of the Americas, which started Friday in this Argentine coastal town, because the agenda had excluded key issues such as the FTAA agreement and immigrant-rights concerns. He was speaking at a press briefing attended by the Associated Press.

He said the summit's host, Argentina President Nestor Kirchner, "must do more to save this conference."