I thought you guys might be interested in some of these articles:
THE HUMOR SECTION--WHERE SEQUEIRA GOT THE NUMBERS IS ANYBODY'S GUESS
It's interesting to note that Nicaragua's entire population is only 5 million, with a workforce of 1.7 million, and an unemployment rate of 24%. Somehow they are creating a million more jobs than they have laborers. Although, with the pennies-a-day wages companies will be paying, maybe he meant the goal is for every worker to have two full time jobs.
CAFTA To Create 2.5 Mln Jobs in Nicaragua 2004-2020
198 words
20 January 2004
Spanish News Digest
English
(c) Copyright 2004 AII Data Processing Ltd. All Rights Reserved. News digest produced by AII Data Processing Ltd. For further details of international press reviews: www.aiidatapro.com, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Tel.:+359 2 987 64 98; Fax: +359 2 986 17 13.
The Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), signed in December 2003, is expected to lead to the creation of some 2.5 million jobs in Nicaragua between 2004 and 2020, the chief Nicaraguan negotiator on CAFTA, Carlos Sequeira, said on January 20, 2004.
The main problem during the negotiations on CAFTA, which ended on December 17, 2003 in Washington, was the country to agree on good conditions to attract foreign and local investments, Sequeira said.
Nicaragua must now get access to the U.S. market, become attractive to investors and study in depth the opportunities, which CAFTA gives for the creation of jobs, Sequeira added.
Currently some 500,000 Nicaraguans are seeking jobs, Sequeira added.
[Editor's note: In December 2003, the U.S. Government ratified the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with Nicaragua, Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. The Dominican Republic will also form part of CAFTA after finishing negotiations with the USA.]
Costa Rican Syndicates To Begin General Strike Against FTA with USA
403 words
21 January 2004
Latin America News Digest
English
(c) Copyright 2004 AII Data Processing. All Rights Reserved. News Digest produced by AII Data Processing. For further details of international press reviews: www.aiidatapro.com, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Tel: +359 2987 64 98; Fax: +359 2986 1714
Directors of various Costa Rican syndicates announced on January 20, 2004 that in the next few weeks a general strike would begin in the country in protest against the free trade agreement (FTA) with the USA, the negotiations of which have entered recently the final phase.
The announcement was made by the secretary general of the Costa Rican state telecom monopoly (ICE) employees' internal front, or FIT, Fabio Chavez.
The negotiating team of the Government of Costa Rican President, Abel Pacheco, accepted the conditions of the USA for the opening of the telecommunications services and the insurance services abroad, two strategic public services, Chavez said. At the same time, the exporters of sugar, textiles and meat, will benefit from the FTA, Chavez added. The negotiating team and Pacheco will be responsible for breaking the labour peace in the country in the near months, Chavez said.
The exact date of the strike has not been discussed up to the moment, but Chavez will have meetings shortly with other syndicate leaders of other sectors, with social organisations and political leaders, who oppose the FTA between Costa Rica and the USA.
At the beginning of the negotiations between the USA and Central America on the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), which included also Costa Rica, in January 2003, Costa Rica indicated the country would not negotiate the telecommunications and insurances services, but the USA imposed it as a FTA signing condition in October 2003.
The negotiations between Costa Rica are expected to end by the end of the week, beginning on January 19, 2004 in Washington. Costa Rica will be included in this way again in CAFTA, which was concluded between El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and the USA in December 2003.
Costa Rica was initially in the group, which concluded negotiations in December 2003, but demanded extension of the negotiations due to the discussion of some sensible issues, among them the telecommunications and the insurances. The negotiations were renewed in the week, beginning on January 12, 2004. The U.S. Trade Representative, Robert Zoellick, and the main Costa Rican negotiator, Alberto Trejos, are expected to close negotiations as soon as possible.
U.S. Farmers Learn French
586 words
21 January 2004
The Wall Street Journal Europe
A12
English
(Copyright (c) 2004, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
It's an ominous sign that the American Farm Bureau Federation is suddenly dabbling in protectionism. The influential lobby is in danger of being hijacked by sugar, dairy and other interests that hardly speak for all of U.S. agriculture.
At the Farm Bureau's annual meeting in Honolulu last week, the delegates voted (204-202) to add some dangerous caveats to their traditional free-trade stance. Future U.S. trade agreements, they said, must "prevent economic damage to import-sensitive commodities and the circumvention of domestic trade policy and tariff schedules." In other words, opening export markets for U.S. beef and grain are fine, but as for opening U.S. markets to more imports -- forget it.
We hope most American farmers understand how damaging this would be to their own interests, not to mention the country's. As anyone who visits a Midwest or California farm quickly discovers, U.S. agriculture is among the world's most competitive. Capital-intensive farmers in America are on the cutting edge of seed, fertilizer and harvesting technology. American farm exports were about $57 billion last year and have been making major inroads into fast-growing food markets in Asia.
The first rule of any trade negotiation is the quid pro quo. Americans aren't about to get better access to foreign markets if they won't give foreign producers similar access to the U.S. consumer.
The political tail wagging the dog here is the U.S. sugar industry, which has been coddled by import quotas for years. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says sugar represented only 1.1% of total U.S. farm receipts in 2002. But because of sugar's clout in Washington, Americans pay well over 20 cents a pound for raw sugar compared with a world price near seven cents.
Mexico's retaliation in the late 1990s against U.S. sugar quotas that violated the North American Free Trade Agreement means that U.S. producers of high-fructose corn syrup now lose an estimated $620 million annually in sales to Mexico, according to the Corn Refiners Association. The sugar-quota daddies are now especially alarmed by the new Central American Free Trade Agreement, which would open a mere 1% of the U.S. sugar market to Caribbean Basin producers in exchange for new beef and grain markets for American exporters.
So they're trying to hijack the Farm Bureau to help defeat both Cafta and future trade accords. The protectionist policy language was introduced in Honolulu by the North Dakota delegation, led by its sugar beet producers. Louisiana growers were close behind. Citrus growers and heavily subsidized dairy interests also pushed the protectionist line.
At least some of the Farm Bureau delegates caught on to this game early enough in Hawaii to prevent even greater harm. After the sugar damage was done, free traders scrambled to pass another resolution urging the Bush Administration to "include all agricultural products and policies in negotiations." And a North Dakota proposal to reverse Farm Bureau policy that "legislative import quotas are unacceptable solutions to import problems" was defeated after the Indiana Bureau President declared, "Bonjour, Mr. Chairman. We are turning European."
That gentleman has his political accent right. French farmers have been subsidized and protected for so long that they can no longer compete. If the Farm Bureau doesn't want that to happen to American agriculture, its board will now reassert its traditional free-trade support.
US tries for trio of trade pacts in January.
By Doug Palmer
443 words
20 January 2004
11:55 pm GMT
Reuters News
English
(c) 2004 Reuters Limited
WASHINGTON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - U.S. trade officials grappled with a trio of intense negotiations on Tuesday hoping to conclude free trade deals with Costa Rica, Morocco and Australia in the next week or two.
Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Chris Padilla said negotiators aimed to iron out remaining details in the three separate trade pacts.
A Costa Rican official said he was optimistic his country would strike a deal with the United States by Friday. "We're confident we're going to make it," he said.
The Bush administration wrapped up trade negotiations with four Central American countries - El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua - last month as part of a proposed U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) that it plans to ask Congress to approve this year.
Costa Rica was part of those talks but said it needed more time to study U.S. demands it liberalize two service sectors, insurance and telecommunication, where it has monopolies.
The Costa Rican official, who spoke on condition he not be identified, said the two countries were moving closer to agreement on insurance and telecommunications issues.
To offset the service sector demands, Costa Rica is pushing for more generous agriculture and textile terms than the United States gave the other CAFTA countries, he said.
Meanwhile, U.S. and Moroccan negotiators were making progress on farm and textile issues that blocked an agreement last month, a spokesman for the Moroccan Embassy said.
"I am confident that these two issues will be solved very quickly," she told Reuters. "We're hoping to wrap up the negotiations as soon as possible, but the teams are still working on the final issues."
A U.S. trade official, who spoke on condition he not be identified, gave a similar outlook.
He left open the possibility the two countries could resolve all remaining issues this week or next, but noted the only talks scheduled were on textiles.
The Bush administration could face its biggest challenge finishing a free trade pact with Australia, a major agricultural exporter.
Many U.S. farm groups - particularly dairy, meat and sugar organizations - oppose the proposed pact because they fear they would give up more than they gain.
Padilla told a U.S. business group that disagreements over how to handle pharmaceutical and audio-visual trade issues also complicated the job of finishing the talks.
Australian officials have arrived in Washington for what has been billed as the last round of talks.
"We're going to give it the old college try to finish out before the end of this month," Padilla said.
ICE workers threaten national strike.
231 words
20 January 2004
Business News Americas
English
(c) 2004 Business News Americas (BNamericas.com)
Grupo ICE
Employees at Costa Rica's state electricity and telecoms operator ICE have threatened to call a national strike if the government proceeds with plans to open up the sector to more competition, local press reported.
"We are preparing a broad front that will inevitably lead to a large national strike in the next few weeks," said Fabio Chaves, secretary general of the ICE employees' internal front, or FIT.
FIT claims the government has caved in to pressure from the United States to partially open up the telecoms sector to competition in exchange for joining the Central American Free Trade Agreement (Cafta).
The Costa Rican government had initially withdrawn from Cafta talks because it did not agree to the telecoms liberalization. But FIT officials claimed the latest round of talks, which officially started Tuesday, are "ridiculous," and that the deals have already been done.
"The negotiating team accepted the [United States'] conditions of opening up telecommunications and insurance services... in exchange for concessions that favor a small group of exporters of sugar, textiles, meat," FIT said in a statement.
"We hold responsible the negotiating team, the business chambers and the president of the republic for the consequences, and the breaking of labor harmony that will happen in the next few days," FIT said.
