<TITLE: Governing "Good Governance" in Developing Countries
ACADEMIC DOMAIN: economics and administration
DISCIPLINE: management studies
EVENT TYPE: conference presentation
FILE ID: CPRE05I
NOTES: continuation of and continued in CDIS050, session also includes presentations CPRE05G/J

RECORDING DURATION: 26 min 20 sec

RECORDING DATE: 11.11.2004

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: unknown

NUMBER OF SPEAKERS: 1

S18: NATIVE-SPEAKER STATUS: Spanish (Mexico); ACADEMIC ROLE: masters student; GENDER: female; AGE: 24-30>


<S18> er but i want to talk about the free trade area of the americas negotiations and its main challenges and this has to do a lot with development because there has been one er course that mainly developing countries as latin american countries have taken <P:06> okay we are going to see er the objective of my paper the american background and antecedents in america so we can get an idea of what is this FTAA that's the free trade area of the americas we are going to see its negotiations what er has happened in the summit when er what what's er how many summits have erm encountered their plan of action their main objectives within these summits the regional groups in america , the challenges for the free trade area of the america and a conclusion <P:07> okay the introduction erm right now in what is all america we can see this union that's happening these bilateral erm and regional agreements within countries and how they have been by groups uniting and at this er main objective to form the free trade area is as one of er priority then erm we also have to consider that in all america there are the majority are of the majority are developing countries and these developing countries are latin american countries we have two developed countries there and erm the rest we consider developing countries there is erm this effort to unite the economies as i have already said to form this free trade area er they are these latin american countries are looking to er modify their position in a worldwide context they're trying to erm go and reach developed countries they are trying to get a better position economically politically and in social context er and what these latin american countries have done is re- er gone to this regional integration and it has had erm what this regional integration to them has been because of the one of the the success of the european union to see this this er market functioning they are er they have er wanted to do that through this regional integration <P:06> now our background erm well it's very diffuse because within these latin american countries er sometimes people er see 'em as have sharing a same erm language same culture same er history but it is not so within these latin american countries we have very different er very different cultures we have different languages also and er it the history has been different depending on er er the conquest within er these countries erm it's an a heterogeneous continent because of this there through their history there has been this unsuccessful er attempt in political and economical inte- integration a few times they have not er in their history they have had er this try to unite and then they have not succeeded they have gone through erm crises through inflations and er through dictatorships and one of these important factors of these latin american countries is the debt that they have and that has er for them it has also been er a way of er of back towa- backwards because of this er they have had to do some er cutdowns in important areas as education and health er they're in in with between these countries er these latin american countries there are also different levels of er development we can see we know that latin american countries are developing countries but then within these develo- these latin american developing countries we have different levels for example mexico brazil and argentina have a higher level of development considered with microstates as caribbeans and erm guatemala and there's different so we see highly developed well not highly developed er with a higher development some countries in latin america and some with lower development , er this integration proc- process in america is asymmetric process because it considers developing countries and developed countries these developed two countries like the US and canada (and brazil are) to latin american countries , if er when this free trade area it will be the world's largest market and this free trade area of the americas was a US proposal in 1994 <P:06> okay so er what problems do latin american countries encounter in their common goals just focusing right now to the least developing countries erm they face social troubles and development er these wi- within their social problems er poverty is their major and they have not due time they have not er found this er solution to this poverty even though erm they have had er these integrations an example with the NAFTA with mexico with the US and canada mexico still has not found er solution to this poverty problem through this er one factor erm they have appealed to this regional integration because er seeking prosperity democracy benefits socially politically and to economical dilemmas , erm they the through this free trade area research a wider market the elimination of trade barriers within these countries er favourable conditions to a rapid er industrial craft development they search for this progressive integration that includes all the the rest erm talking like this er economical and er political to have a more stable society er human rights also <P:08> erm latin american countries have not had reached out as i have said to regional integration due to this then they have not found er a resolution in the world trade organisation this is within the world trade organisation these latin american countries er before these regional integrations did not have er solutions er they were not considered er they were considered but they they weren't er within the country they weren't er having this they er they couldn't see these benefits and they couldn't see these erm these er , like aspects that have been taken in the world trade organisation to er to- toward this development they hadn't had it hadn't had a solution so it's like it did not have it hasn't had a solution in the world trade organisation they had decided to do this regional integration and this regional integration is with neighbouring countries which they help each other and they do well they have this trade and tool benefit just within this certain region , er with the regional integration they have obtained major bargaining power added at negotiations this is er i think very important because these regional integrations as before the countries didn't have power or were just like very separate and could not erm ask or at least talk about these problems within the world trade organisation act- they couldn't actually it says it it er they are that every country has this er can ask and pose and everything but from this from this to do it and permit to happen is a very long step and they didn't do it before but now it er these regional integrations we have more erm countries and now they have a more bargaining power within the world trade organisation now they can er for example the andinian community can say what they demand and it it's easier to be heard in the world trade organisation and mercosur that's also another example of this erm a progressive growth in matters of development and at at a common pace these regional integrations is also in erm i mean latin american countries like there are so many different levels of development they have a different pace and speed er towards this development so it's hard to put er er er brazil with a caribbean country and ask for them to go at the same pace of development because they have a different size of economy so with this regional integration like er erm they are like neighbouring countries they have similar conditions and they can at least have a same pace and same speed towards development and that's what regional integration has been in these countries <P:06> that was the background now these are like er antecedents er a history within america er well er if we talk about this regional integration occurring within er america we have to talk about simon bolivar and he was one of the first who attempted to do this er this er integration er but it failed it wasn't in america this was er after that period there was this crisis this dictar- dictatorship regime a nationali- nationalism attitude between er presidents in devel- in- in- individuality concepts period at this erm time er it was going through this crisis where these er presidents did not consider so important this integration that is why er the thi- this is why erm the lack of this unity why it's not like like er a so a so slow pace of this actually right now er then in 1980 the US supported this regional integration and the ALADI was reinforced er and after in the 1980 this regional integration has prolif- proliferated we have had the er mercosur the andinian community have already been there but it is now er reinforced and this concept of integration had er after the 1980 has had a boom within the american countries <P:07> okay it is erm it's a huge steps to these coun- er it's this integration ha- has gone in huge steps but also in very erm contagious steps for these developing countries we find middle and small economies that want to do not want to be acquired by bigger economies there's this within this americ- er america these countries also want to erm protect themselves from big economies microstates want to protect themselves from big er bigger economy that could be brazil and brazil wants to protect itself from a much bigger economy that could be the US american economy er another very important factor in this free trade area of the americas is that these summits have not shared a single provision among these latin american countries and to this it has been things like fai- this fla- fai- failure in these last summits it was just a US proposal in 1994 with the first summit and it er was a proposal but then the other er summits have not had this er real er accord agreement between the countries <P:06> okay this is erm a line of the negotiations that have occurred we er see that 1994 we had the first summit there are summits and there are also these ministerial er negotiations so we have in 1994 and 1998 we have the second summit the third in 2001 and 2004 the this is just like er the su- the summits the negotiations that have happened within the free trade area of the americas <P:07> what er plan of action has this free trade area of the americas taken it has taken it has searched for preserving and <SIC> stringling </SIC> community in the democracies this is er there is this very high level of corruption and one priority is to eliminate this corruption within these countries democracy also within the countries is er erm considered and confidence within the members of the free trade area of the americas er also promoting prosperity through economic integration and free trade this is er the to seek the realisation of markets infrastructure because you can see countries with er roads or they aren't even roads they're just like erm dirt roads or also in technology it's very important to have er there's this interest for developing countries to have this technical support to for technology tourism is also an important factor because the er majority of these countries erm have this very high erm , this very high , erm like very very nice forest and this er geographical that er ecotourism has gained to them right now so it's it's er it's an a very important factor tourism er well as we had said eradicating poverty and discrimination er mainly these for these countries to go out of this er underdevelopment i it's very important this education and well then we go back to this debt problem that erm erm they have to they have they had so much money lent from very er from developed countries and and an ex- erm in a high er loan er credits too much of er credit has been given that they er they have paid and actually they have erm have to pay and now they have to do cut-downs on education erm are also guaranteeing sustainable development and conserving our natural environment that is biodiversity pollution and partnership here we also have a very important factor that's biodiversity because to respect this biodiversity erm they they have had a lot of er taken a lot of erm plans or methods that er developed countries have not paid so it's an important factor for developing countries to have this biodiversity very er strict and be have a gain through this . okay so now we're going to see the regional groups there are four major regional groups and they have this objective to this common market erm that's the central american common mar- market that's guatemala er honduras el salvador er latin er central america we have the andinian community the cari- caribbean common market and the southern common market er and well mercosur that's er where these leaders (respite) then with er there's also these lo- er other regional groups but not so important as these four because these four are tending to this common market these are er the group of three we have north er the NAFTA and central the central american free trade area that's central america and the US er they are all within this er ALADI framework <P:07> er as you have seen with these within these regional groups two er two strong leaders are seeking different goals but with the same aim this is the unity of america here we are talking mainly about brazil and the US er brazil is leveraged by mercosur and supported by CAICOM er venezuela and they have had a strong position within these negotiations to seek their own erm like benefits more in agriculture and defending these points that are important for developing countries and we now have er this US approach that has erm these different cooperating countries and erm here the US has opted to go to a more bilateral agreement with other countries <P:08> er challenges to the free trade area of americas is this inflexibility in the negotiations er mainly in the postures of the developing countries and the US approach er the US wants more er property rights and the developing countries wants a more er an agriculture to an agriculture and they do not come to an accordance it's just one er single position and they don't both countries or both er groups don't want to take these erm trade er to be more flexible er also a challenge is the er south american free trade area because er this this southern american trade can be a challenge to the free trade area because in a way that er it is not uniting it's more separating the south and the north and it's not coming to this whole integration of the free trade area of the of all america er also it there has been a light lack a light er free trade area of the americas erm they have not er er these er one problem has been this integration process that as to lack of this integration process of the whole america they erm brazil wants to concentrate more on the south and the US wants to concentrate more on bilateral agreement and actually at at the negotiations there hasn't been anythi- any resolutions er well the challenges are for developing countries these agriculture de- er anti- de- dumping measurements investment protectionism liberalisation of markets and these property rights mainly for the US er there's strong emphasis er that the US has given to these bilateral agreements because as to see like the US has seen that its proposal of 1994 has not had this success er it has gone to these bilateral agreements so it it is not er something that is supporting the free trade area of the americas the er also a challenge are the different levels of economic development within these countries and if er the free trade area is the er whe- when the free trade is it going to er how is it going to face the difference in speed within these developing countries <P:08> erm to a conclusion er it's for 2005 the free trade area had to have already this has to be a free trade area in the america and erm i think it's very far to from these negotiations er this regional integration i i consider a progressive tool and to toward this multilateral integration i think the er this regional integration has er worked for these developing countries and has been a very er good er leverage for these countries in the WTO and for their proper development erm we have also many nations with different size of economies cultures and this has had er positive st- er that's what i have said a positive strategy to regional integration that how these er economies have united and have gained this bargaining power i think has been very important erm also this willing collaboration latin american latin amer- in clari- in latin amer- in the latin region seeking their proper benefits this is also er that how er i i think it's it's er very good to see these latin american taking care of each other and s- erm seeking this common goal and to have a major stand to these developed countries erm well it's the same there's er social construction of a specific region and dev- er another thing is development has no specific solution because of the peculiarities among the regions so development should be considered to er the way to to solve this underdevelopment should be er taken from these countries within their specific particularities there is not one one solution to this development they have to er this one only solution there has to there is er depending on on them er how they are their their er peculiarities then they can go towards development and er the most important thing is that the free trade area of the americas should be an equal <SIC> prosperitous </SIC> prope- prosperous and region trade area for all members and not just some i think this is very important for for er to have a more uni- er unity in america not er one of the main practices is this that it should be for all members </S18>
<APPLAUSE>
