WASHINGTON: The goal of setting up the world's largest free trade region is bold and ambitious, but not easily achieved.

Nine years ago in Miami, the United States, leaders from 34 countries agreed to progressively eliminate trade and investment barriers in the Americas and to create the world's largest free market with 800 million people. The plan was called the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

The FTAA is to be established by the year 2005 at the latest. Given the deadline, trade negotiators at the eighth FTAA meeting in Miami this week could not afford to leave empty-handed. So the FTAA draft text was worked out on Wednesday. On Thursday, ministers of 34 countries adopted a framework agreement based on the draft.

The framework agreement came one day ahead of schedule at the two-day ministerial meeting.

But it did not mean the talks were going smoothly. On the contrary, trade negotiators realized at the very beginning that the scope of talks had to be limited if they were to reach agreement.

The agreement was called "a buffet-style" or "a watered-down" consensus because countries can opt out of parts of the agreement. This may allow them to avoid commitments on thorny issues such as agricultural subsidies and intellectual property rights.

Those points of dispute led to the collapse of the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks in Cancun, Mexico, in September.

The United States and Brazil, the two major countries in the FTAA talks, were at odds with each other over those issues even before this week's talks. The United States maintains that the agricultural subsidies should be discussed at WTO meetings, but Brazil says they are important issues for its farmers.

To avoid direct conflict and to smooth the way for talks, the two countries proposed on Monday to create a set of common rules for the FTAA, but allow each of the 34 countries to pick those of the more controversial clauses it wishes to follow.

That proposal did not please every nation. Canada and Chile responded immediately that all countries should follow every clause.

On Tuesday, the United States announced it would pursue separate agreements with Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.

Analysts said these will be ambitious bilateral agreements in which the United States has more leverage.

The United States wants to achieve its goals first with the countries that are willing to move more quickly, building an overall momentum towards improved trade.

The shifting approaches and manoeuvres reveal how difficult the talks are and why flexibility is needed on sticking points.

"This remains a tremendous challenge, to try to create free trade throughout the hemisphere - half the world," US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick was quoted as saying late on Thursday after announcing the Miami agreement. "So my view... is that it's a good couple of steps forward, frankly."

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim was quoted as saying: "We would like to have everything here on paper, but we aren't going to be able to do that."

An editorial in the World Journal on Thursday said that creating the FTAA is in the strategic interests of the United States from both global and regional perspectives. It is part of a broader trend which cannot be reversed.

Considering the mounting issues that remain unresolved, United States has to take the lead to achieve fair trade in a globalized world.

(China Daily November 24, 2003)