No subject

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2)	Inside US Trade
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U.S. HOPES FTAA MINISTERIAL SETS SCHEDULE TO MEET 2005 DEADLINE
Date:	October 11, 2002

The U.S. wants a meeting of hemispheric trade ministers early next month to
set a calendar of deadlines that will allow negotiators to conclude the 
Free
Trade Area of the Americas by Jan. 1, 2005, a deadline the U.S. hopes will
also be reaffirmed at the ministerial in Quito, Ecuador, according to
Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for the Americas Regina Vargo. She
emphasized the need to get agreement on "mileposts" that will get the talks
up and running to meet the end date.

In addition, countries need to decide the chairmanships of the various
negotiating groups, she told an Oct. 9 forum of the Washington 
International
Trade Association.
The Nov. 1-3 ministerial will also serve to kick-off the joint U.S.-Brazil
chairmanship of the talks, likely with Brazil under the helm of a new
left-wing government that is expected to win election before then.

Under the new co-chairmanship, Brazil and the U.S. also will have to agree
on how to handle future FTAA ministerials, she said. The U.S. is looking 
for
a ministerial meeting mid-way through the 26 months left before the
scheduled date of conclusion.

The U.S. also wants "ambitious directives" from ministers for the removal 
of
brackets-used to denote disagreement-in the FTAA negotiating text,
Vargo said. That draft text has been clarified, with many redundancies
removed, she said.

Separately, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Peter Allgeier said the U.S.
"expects" ministers will agree to make those documents public. Speaking at
an Oct. 7 forum on the FTAA held by the Center for Strategic and
International Studies, he described the texts as still showing "multiple
positions with brackets all over."

The Quito meeting is also scheduled to agree on a technical assistance and
capacity building program, based on recommendations being developed by 
trade
officials in Panama this week, Allgeier said. Those assistance efforts are
designed to help countries take part in the negotiations, implement new
commitments and be better positioned to take advantage of new benefits.

The Quito meeting also will deal with parameters for market access talks,
including the fight between Brazil and the U.S. over whether countries can
offer speedier tariff reductions to some countries than to others (see
related story).

Allgeier expressed confidence that the U.S. and Brazil will continue to 
work
cooperatively in their joint chairmanship of the FTAA, adding "there's no
reason to believe that would change with a new administration in Brazil."

The front runner in Brazil's presidential election to be held Oct. 27 is
Luiz W."


And - ZoelInacio Lula da Silva, the leader of the Worker's Party. He has 
called
the FTAA a U.S. attempt at annexation of Latin America, but Brazil's
Ambassador to the U.S. Rubens Barbosa downplayed the differences between 
the
current government he represents and the trade policy under a possible Lula
administration.
"Whoever wins in Brazil will not change our basic positions in the FTAA,
Mercosur or WTO," Barbosa said at the CSIS forum. "What you will see will 
be
a more assertive stance." Brazil's basic positions were rooted in its 
market
access priorities, including easing restrictions on its exports like steel
and reducing U.S. farm subsidies that undercut its agriculture exports.

He noted that Lula had promised to set up a special trade representative's
office close to the presidency and has pledged not to take an "ideological"
stance in the FTAA.

Barbosa cautioned that the U.S. position to relegate negotiations on farm
subsidies and trade remedy to the WTO, where they can be addressed on a
global level, could leave the FTAA hostage to the multilateral talks. These
issues are priorities for Brazil in both fora, he said. "What happens to 
the
FTAA if there is no agreement in the WTO?" Barbosa asked.

The formal U.S. notification to Congress on the FTAA contains few surprises
and closely tracked fast-track trade negotiating objectives and positions
taken to date by the U.S. in those negotiations, according to observers.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick in a letter last week formally
notified Congress of U.S. objectives for the FTAA.

On agriculture, the U.S. will seek a commitment to eliminate export
subsidies in the hemisphere, and "a mechanism" to achieve the same 
objective
in WTO talks. One agriculture source said this might not refer to a formal
mechanism, but may refer simply to an agreement between FTAA countries to
cooperate in WTO negotiations to seek elimination of export subsidies by 
the
European Union and Japan.
The U.S. will also seek disciplines on the activities of state-trading
enterprises, and combat trade barriers including "trade restrictions that
affect U.S. technologies," the letter said. U.S. biotech companies have
complained about Brazilian restrictions that prevent the planting of
bio-tech crops.

The letter states that the U.S. will pursue to eliminate discrimination in
services sectors in FTAA countries, including in the financial services and
telecommunications sectors, and seek commitments to improve transparency in
the regulation of those sectors.
The U.S. will also argue for countries to undertake non-discrimination
obligations with respect to government procurement, open up public works
projects to U.S. bidders on an equal basis. If applicable to all FTAA
members, this would go beyond the obligations now in effect for all WTO
members since the government procurement agreement is a plurilateral one.

On trade remedy, USTR pledged to "preserve the ability of the United States
to enforce rigorously its antidumping and countervailing duty laws." This 
is
different from the formulation in similar letters on free trade agreements
with Chile and Singapore, which stated that the U.S. objective was to "make
no changes in U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty laws." But it is 
also
consistent with the negotiating position taken by the U.S. with those
agreements-in the bilaterals, it has held fast to its position of no
changes on trade remedy, but has been careful not to rule this out in FTAA
talks.

On labor and environment, the notification follows language in TPA stating
that countries should commit to "strive to ensure that they will not, as an
encouragement for trade or investment, weaken or reduce the protectioW."


And - Zoelns
provided for" in their environmental or labor laws.

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3)	ECUADOR INDYMEDIA: update on the mobilization in Quito, Ecuador-

prepared by Indymedia Ecuador
September 9, 2002
EXCERPT:  FULL UPDATE ON http://ecuador.indymedia.de/es/2002/09/127.shtml
(QUITO, ECUADOR) -- Two months before the Americas
Business Forum and the 7th Ministerial Meeting of the
Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), preparations
for the oreceptiono of those who are laying the
foundation for the second colonization of the Americas
are gathering force.  Bit by bit, grassroots
organizations, collectives, and networks from Quito
and across the country are elaborating plans, from
counter-summits and forums to actions in the streets.

The mobilizations actually began months ago, with the
formation of various anti-FTAA spaces, among them the
National Campaign Against the FTAA, the the World
Social Forum u Ecuador Chapter, RADAK, and a coalition
formed by the FENOCIN (see below for more info).  In
preparation for the actions, dozens of forums,
workshops, and meetings have been organized across the
country.  Between the 13th and 14th of September, this
process will accelerate with the Second National
Convention Against the FTAA, in the city of Cuenca.

For its part, the Indymedia Ecuador collective plans
to add its grain of rice from here forward with
permanent coverage and analysis of the preparations,
the difficulties that the various campaigns encounter,
and general information on October and November.  How
do we plan to do it?  By being the media ourselves, by
being Indymedia, every one of us.

iALCA NO PASAR-! iThe FTAA will never be!
Timeline of the Mobilization Against the FTAA
September and October: Four caravans, passing through
hundreds of communities, giving workshops on the FTAA,
Plan Colombia, art and resistance, and non-violent
direct action (CONFEUNASSC-CNC).

October: FENOCIN will organize two marches that will
bring people from the Colombian and Peruvian borders
to Quito for the days of resistance.

October 12: Grito de los Excluid at s (Cry of the
Excluded) day of action, which will have the FTAA as a
central theme.

October 26-27: National forum on water issues in the
face of neoliberalism and the FTAA (Institute for
Third World Ecological Studies).

October 27-28: Continental gathering of campesino
organizations under the auspices of the CLOC
(Coordinadora Latinoamericana de Organizaciones del
Campo): "The impact and consequences of the FTAA in
rural communities."

October 27-28: Continental gathering of Friends of the
Earth and the Cono Sur Sustentable network, in order
to stake out a common position for regional
sustainability in the face of globalization and the
FTAA (Acci=n Ecol=gica).

October 28: Forum with 50 labor leaders from accross
the Americas (CEOSL).

October 27-30: Continental gathering for reflection
and exchange: oAnother America is Possibleo (World
Social Forum u Ecuador Chapter).

October 29-30:  Forum for anti-FTAA legislators and
members of congress from across the continent
(National Campaign Against the FTAA, Pachakutik).

October 27 to November 1: Continental Days of
Resistance Against the FTAA  in Quito (National and
Continental Campaigns Against the FTAA).

October 31 and November 1: Direct action against the
FTAA in Quito.

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W."

And - Zoel
Timi Gerson
Organizer/FTAA Coordinator
Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch
215 Pennsylvania Ave, SE, Washington DC, 20003 USA
tgerson at citizen.org & www.tradewatch.org
Ph: + 202-454-5103, Fax: + 202-547 7392