Who is involved in the FTAA negotiations, and how did it get started?
High on their NAFTA victory, U.S. officials organized a Summit of the Americas in Miami in December 1994. Trade ministers from every country in the Western Hemisphere (except for Cuba) agreed to launch negotiations to establish a hemispheric free trade deal. After the “Miami Summit,” however, little else was done on developing the FTAA until April 1998 when the “Santiago Summit” in Chile was held. At this second summit, the 34 nations set up a Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC), headed by Dr. Adalberto Rodriguez Giavarini of Argentina and consisting a vice mister of trade from every country. Since late 1999, the FTAA working groups have been meeting every few months to lay out their countries’ positions on these issues. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) demanded working groups on democratic governance, labor and human rights, consumer safety and the environment. These were rejected, and instead a Committee of Government Representatives on Civil Society was established to represent
