General Assembly

Distr. GENERAL  

13 November1996

ORIGINAL:
SPANISH

General Assembly
Fifty-first session
SECOND COMMITTEE
Agenda item 94 (c)


            MACROECONOMIC POLICY QUESTIONS:  TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT

                Letter dated 7 November 1996 from the Permanent
                Representative of Uruguay to the United Nations
                      addressed to the Secretary-General


     I have the honour to refer to the Third Meeting of Government
Officials Responsible for Trade Policy in Latin America and the
Caribbean, jointly organized by the secretariats of the Latin American
Integration Association (LAIA), the Economic Commission for Latin
America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Latin American Economic
System (SELA), which was held in Montevideo at the headquarters of
LAIA.

     I should be grateful if the final report of this meeting, which is
annexed, could be circulated as a document of the General Assembly,
under agenda item 94 (c).

                                              (Signed)  Jorge PEREZ OTERMIN   
                                                            Ambassador        
                                                      Permanent Representative


                                     ANNEX

           Final report of the Third Meeting of Government Officials
           Responsible for Trade Policy in Latin America and the    
               Caribbean, held in Montevideo on 25 October 1996


I.  INTRODUCTION

1.   The Third Meeting of Government Officials Responsible for Trade
Policy in Latin America and the Caribbean, jointly organized by the
secretariats of the Latin American Integration Association (LAIA), the
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and
the Latin American Economic System (SELA), was held on 21 October 1996
at LAIA headquarters in Montevideo.

2.   High-level delegations from the 22 States members of SELA
participated in the meeting, as well as the Secretary-General of the
Association of Caribbean States, the acting Secretary-General of the
Permanent Secretariat of the General Treaty on Central American
Economic Integration (SIECA), the head of the special division for
trade of the Organization of American States (OAS), the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) regional representative for Latin America
and the Caribbean, the adviser of the United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the directors of the Caribbean
Community (CARICOM) and of the organizations co-sponsoring the event.

3.   At the opening meeting, statements were made by the Secretary-
General of LAIA, Ambassador Antonio Antu'nes, the head of the
International Trade, Development Financing and Transport Division of
ECLAC, Dr. Vivianne Ventura-Dias, and the Permanent Secretary of SELA,
Ambassador Carlos J. Moneta.

4.   The Director-General of Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uruguay,
Contadora Graziella Bonfiglio, was elected Chairman of the meeting,
and the Assistant Secretary for Technical Matters of the Office of the
President of the Dominican Republic, Dr. Federico Alberto Cuello C.,
Rapporteur.  The Chairman was later replaced by Dr. Carlos Amorin of
the delegation of Uruguay.

5.   During the meeting, reports were submitted and statements made by
the representatives of the secretariats of LAIA, ECLAC and SELA, and
by the representatives of Peru, Costa Rica and Chile, as chairmen of
the working groups of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (ALCA) on
policies regarding competition, trade and investment, and trade in
services, respectively.

6.   The representative of OAS provided information about the
activities of the working groups of ALCA.

7.   The Chairman and Rapporteur were requested to draft this report.

8.   The following points were highlighted as a result of the debate:

II.  CONCLUSIONS

1.   The participating delegations confirmed the importance of
continuing to hold meetings of officials responsible for trade policy
in Latin America and the Caribbean as often as necessary and
reaffirmed the validity of the conclusions resulting from the second
meeting, held at SELA headquarters in Caracas on 8 February 1996.

2.   In analysing the process of the convergence of regional
integration with hemisphere-wide and multilateral negotiations,
attention was drawn to the scope of trade policy topics, which was
expanding to include aspects other than the market access of goods. 
The new multidisciplinary character of the negotiations reinforced the
need to have better inter-agency coordination within Governments in
defining negotiating positions and to give priority to initiating a
new round of negotiations on current and emerging topics.  There was
also a need to strengthen the regulatory capacity of Governments to
enable them to fulfil their commitments.

3.   In the hemisphere, it was noted that the formation of the Free
Trade Area of the Americas was at the preparatory stage of sharing
information through the activities of 11 working groups.  Appropriate
coherence must be maintained in the positions to be taken on the
topics involved, given that parallel negotiations were being held on
those topics at the subregional, regional and multilateral levels.

4.   In assessing the multilateral agenda, consideration was given to
the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in monitoring
compliance with the agreements and implementing the results of the
Uruguay Round through the established institutional mechanisms and
notification procedures.

5.   Delegations reiterated the need to comply with the commitments
entered into and to closely monitor the compliance of developed
countries.  They stressed, in particular, the need to remove
agricultural subsidies, incorporate the textiles trade, increase the
participation of developing countries in trade in services (art. IV of
the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)) and implement the
Decision on Measures Concerning the Possible Negative Effects of the
Reform Programme on Least-Developed and Net Food-Importing Countries,
contained in the Final Act of Marrakesh.  Delegations also rejected
attempts to reduce the transition periods for developing countries,
especially with respect to intellectual property.  Moreover, the
development of the proposed agenda concerning agriculture, services,
trade and environment required preparatory work, national assessments
and the identification of challenges and opportunities for each
country.

6.   The regional, hemisphere-wide and multilateral aspects of the
three specific topics - policies regarding competition, trade and
investments, and trade in services - were also considered.

7.   With respect to competition policies, the lack of relevant
legislation in the majority of the countries of the region was
highlighted as well as the disparities as far as a competitive culture
was concerned.  There was consensus on the need for individual
countries to work towards the adoption of a set of rules on
competition, introducing new laws and strengthening the institutional
capacity of Governments.  In that connection, it was recommended that
the areas of complementarity identified at the hemisphere-wide level
should be taken into account and that the technical cooperation
activities of UNCTAD, SELA and other bodies should be promoted. 
Delegations expressed support for ongoing work at the hemisphere-wide
and multilateral levels, especially since such work was linked to
trade in services, liberalization of investments and agreements on
unfair trade practices.  In that connection, views were exchanged on
the proposal to establish a working group within WTO at the Singapore
ministerial-level meeting.

8.   The discussions on trade and investments revealed the high level
of consensus among countries of the hemisphere on the role of foreign
investments in economic and technological development, which is
reflected in the considerable convergence of view that could be seen
in domestic laws, subregional agreements and exceptions.  In that
regard, views were exchanged on the establishment of a WTO working
group to study the relationship between trade and investments and
gather information on technology transfer, investment promotion and
investment incentives at the global level.

9.   With regard to trade in services, information was exchanged on
hemisphere-wide and multilateral negotiations within the framework of
WTO, stressing the need for transparency and for the active
participation of Latin America and the Caribbean in the ongoing WTO
working groups.  In that connection, some delegations noted with
concern the lack of satisfactory results from the post-Uruguay Round
negotiations concerning maritime transport, financial services, the
movement of individuals and basic telecommunications.  Reference was
made to the proposal made in WTO to promote a process of information-
sharing prior to the resumption of negotiations in the year 2000, with
particular emphasis on compliance with article IV of GATS by the
developed countries.

10.  The LAIA/ECLAC/SELA working group was unanimously requested to
distribute the working documents for meetings in English and Spanish a
month in advance.

11.  Delegations welcomed the proposal to hold the fourth meeting at
ECLAC headquarters in Santiago, Chile, in early September 1997.


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