Agenda and Logistics for the Summit of the Americas

3:17 P.M. EST

MR. LORTI: Thank you very much. Welcome to everybody. Nice to be here in Washington this afternoon. Let me start briefly to say that we are at 22 days from the events. For us Canadians it's a challenge, a big challenge to organize the third Summit of the Americas. Not only are we expecting 9,000 people to converge on Quebec City for this important hemispheric event, but also we are going to host a large group of anti-globalization forces who are going to be present in a countersummit, in a parallel summit that is going to take place at the same time.

I am going to first of all tell you a little bit about the process, what we have to do in the next 22 days, and also the summit in general -- what are we going to talk about, where are we in terms of preparations for the plan of action, and the direction we would like to give -- the direction the hemisphere is going to take in the next few years, and where the emphasis is going to be placed.

The first subject of discussions in the Quebec City summit is going to be strengthening of democracy. Strengthening of democracy -- we have decided to divide the summit under three schematics -- that was decided by the foreign ministers in Windsor last June. And we have followed during five meetings of sherpas, professional representatives, that schematic, to develop a plan of action, and work on a proposed political declaration.

The first schematic, as I mentioned, is the strengthening of democracy. There is a consensus around the table that it is time at this very moment at the third Summit of the Americas to send an important political message, a firm political message about the importance of democracy in the hemisphere. Why? Because it is the basis of the foundation -- it is the basis and the foundation of our hemispheric cooperation, of our preferential cooperation that we are developing at this moment.

How are we going to translate that in concrete terms? Well, on that score we have been inspired so far by the Mercosur and the Mercosur clause, a so-called democratic clause in the Mercosur that was established after the event in Asuncion in Paraguay in April 1997. When I say it is a source of inspiration, it was an important event in the hemisphere, this development of that clause. And when I first met the then-foreign minister of Brazil, almost a year ago, we discussed the possibility to extend such a clause to the hemispheric cooperation. Therefore I believe at this very moment that the heart of the political declaration will be a democratic clause. A democratic clause, if I want to simplify and summarize, we'll say countries who are going to be beneficiary of the hemispheric cooperation in construction at this moment must belong to the democratic family. If not, the privilege will be suspended.

We have discussed extensively in the last few months the importance to send such a message to the hemisphere. And I believe at this moment we have reached, 22 days before the event, a level of consensus between ourselves about the importance of it. Having said that, each personal representative has the task now to reach their leaders or other political authorities to prepare each country to arrive in Quebec City and express their views on this very issue.

Strengthening democracy also means the establishment of the rule of law in the hemisphere. Together for the last eight months we have developed a plan of action, a rather detailed plan of action ranging from intellectual processes, ideas about financing political parties, modernization of the state, decentralization, how to imply, how to involve civil society in governance, how to address and attack corruptive practices -- a series of very specific issues that will serve to strengthen democratic institutions and democratic values in the hemisphere.

We are also discussing at this very moment -- and when I say discussing a very relevant second schematic of the summit, creation of prosperity. Three ministerial meetings are going to take place before the Quebec City summit that will have an immediate influence on the second schematic about prosperity. The first meeting is going to take place in Buenos Aires on the 6th and 7th of April. It will be the ministerial meeting of international trade -- the ministers of international trade who are going to receive from the negotiators an interim report about the FTAA, the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Free trade agreements of the Americas are being launched, and negotiations were launched at the previous summit in Santiago in April '98. Nine groups of negotiations were formed under these negotiations. The nine groups have been very active in the last few years. They were at the ministerial meeting in November of '99 in Canada; the second ministerial meeting is going to be in Buenos Aires the 6th and 7th of April, and it will have an immediate impact on the Quebec City summit. They, the ministers of international trade of the America -- not only are they going to pursue negotiations, but they are going to prepare an interim report for Quebec City.

What is going to emerge at the meeting in Buenos Aires is what is going to be discussed and emerge in Quebec City at the time of the summit as far as the FTAA is concerned. We could go into much more detail if you wish during the question period.

A second ministerial meeting of importance will be the finance ministers of the hemisphere meeting in Toronto, also next week, April 3rd and 4th, discussing financial markets in the hemisphere, and also addressing questions of the debt and the questions f the financing of various issues under the plan of action. Therefore the ministers of finance are very involved in the process, and they are going to meet two weeks before the Summit of the Americas.

Thirdly, the ministers of the environment will start tonight a meeting in Montreal. They are going to meet tomorrow, and they are going to discuss between themselves the plan of action to submit in the field of environment, cooperation in this important field in the hemisphere, what type of plan of action they are going to submit to leaders in April.

Those three ministerial meetings are of crucial importance. And may I add another one that will have an immediate impact on us? This weekend in Ottawa, leaders of the Indigenous People of the Americas are meeting -- more than 300 leaders of the indigenous populations are meeting in Ottawa, at the invitation of the leadership of the Assembly of the First Nations of Canada -- to discuss indigenous issues and to propose a plan of action on this very issue for the Quebec City summit. And all those sherpas and personal representatives have done a lot of work in the last eight months. We are still approaching -- we still have 22 days to go and a lot to accomplish in a very precise process.

Under the prosperity issues we are going to address several issues, including corporate social responsibility. Leaders will wish to discuss and to give direction on this growing important issue, that could be summarized into the question: Does the private sector investing in a developing country carry social responsibilities or not? And therefore it is something we want to take advantage of the meeting in Quebec City to give a certain direction to ensure that proper reflection and analysis is being given to this important schematic.

For smaller economies -- and I am thinking here of Central America and the Caribbean -- when we discuss prosperity we have to address natural disasters. What do we do in the hemisphere to better prepare ourselves to natural disasters, such as the natural disasters that destroyed part of the economy of El Salvador in January and then again in February? Could we organize ourselves in a more systematic way to prepare the hemisphere for such events when they happen?

Migration is going to be an issue. It's an issue important for President Fox, and we would like to discuss it under the schematic.

On my agenda we are going also to address social issues: How to realize human potential in the hemisphere. And it is the third schematic of the Summit of Americas.

Education of gender equality, cultural diversity, children and youth are going to be various chapters of concentration under this dire plan of action there.

Under health and various issues, Canada has proposed since last April to bring forward a new schematic, a transverse schematic called connectivity. We should never forget that in the context of the Summit of the Americas we are basically in the North-South context. We are fundamentally two developed economies and 32 economies undeveloped. And one of the growing concerns from our partners who are the Americas that was expressed very clearly in the last few months is the so-called digital gap. Economies of the North have restructured in the last few years with fundamental technological revolutions, changing our daily lives. But it does not reach all parts of the hemisphere. Therefore you have this digital gap growing and separating economies of the North and the South. We are going to address this issue in Quebec City, and propose under the schematic of connectivity certain avenues. For instance: How to create better networks between ourselves.

With the help of power, we are going to create a virtual library for all doctors in the Americas that will be able to equip doctors with the best and the most updated medical information, if you are a doctor in Washington, or in the (Chaco Paraguayo ?)

We are going to create also in the field of education how to bring -- how to connect classrooms, how to connect schools, how to prepare the future generation to enter into a knowledge-based economy.

At the end of the exercise we believe that Quebec City is going to give a new impulse to the hemispheric construction. We are going to reinforce the mechanism also to fight drugs and money laundering. Innovative mechanisms of cooperation were created in Santiago, and they are giving positive results, and we are going to reinforce those mechanisms in Quebec City.

At the end of the exercise, I was saying, it will give I believe a new impulse, a new political impulse, to the hemispheric construction. We have new leaders in Quebec City -- 21 new leaders who were not in Santiago are going to be in Quebec City. Only four of them were in Miami seven years ago. And if one were talking democracy, strengthening of democracy, it means also renewal of political elites, reaffirmation of political commitments in various fields including the FTAA, and that will be a major feature. And that's basically the framework of the Quebec City summit.

Now from a Canadian government point of view we have -- it will be a tremendous occasion for us to get closer to the Americas. It is a new phenomenon in our foreign policy -- in our daily life I should say. We joined the OAS only 10 years ago. And the Summit of the Americas will give to Canadians a tremendous interest to do more with the Americas. But being host, we have to host everybody else, and we have to manage the parallel summit. For the Canadian government, despite being criticized here and there, is supporting financially the countersummit that is going to be organized at the time of the summit where you will have various representatives of civil society representatives, mainly led by trade unions -- mainly organized by trade unions -- where you will have six or seven forums expressing views that are going to be different from what is going to be expressed in the plan of action; but at the same time who are going to be very constructive in terms of proposing a course of action for to build a better hemisphere.

The new phenomenon that gives the most challenging task to the Canadian authorities is the new phenomenon that was not created, but we saw for the first time in Seattle, where suddenly you have representatives of position groups being joined by, as we say in French the "trouble-fete" -- hooligans who are of anachronistic tendencies, not interested in a real dialogue, feeling excluded, and wanted to shut down the summit. This is a challenge, and we are facing that challenge with a certain dose of experience. Since Seattle we have gained experience, and the most relevant experience for the Canadian authorities was the Windsor meeting when we hosted the annual meeting of the OAS last June. We faced the same threat. And what we did in terms of organizing our security and our security zone is going to be applied again in Quebec City to a larger zone. And we are going to deal with (les casseurs ?) or the hooligans that way.

We are going to be innovative at the summit. The first sessions of leaders dealing with democracy, the strengthening of democracy and the challenges for their respective societies is going to be open to television. The summit will start at 6:30 on Friday night, with five opening statements -- the prime minister of Canada, the president of Chile, the president of Brazil, the prime minister of Barbados on behalf of Caricom, the prime minister or president of El Salvador on behalf of Central America.

The following morning the first session is going to be televised from 9:00 to 10:30, a quarter till 11:00, with seven or eight leaders addressing the subject of democracy, and that will include the president of the United States, the president of Mexico, the president of Argentina, the president of -- the prime minister of Peru, and other leaders. We are in the process of completing our list.

In the afternoon of Saturday, leaders are going to be in a retreat mode -- they are going to meet by themselves the entire afternoon, from lunchtime -- from 12:30 to 5:00. At 5:00 the prime minister of Canada, on behalf of the summit, is going to give to the press a statement. That night an official dinner.

Sunday leaders are going to resume their work at 9:30, from 9:30 to 12:00 -- sign their official political declaration from 12:30 to 1:00; a press conference at 1:30. And the summit will be completed after the press conference.

Foreign ministers in the afternoon of Saturday, the 21st of April, when leaders are in the retreat mode, the Canadian foreign minister and the minister of international trade, are going to invite some of their colleagues to meet with representatives of civil society, members of civil society throughout the hemisphere who have been involved in a dialogue with us in the last few months to construct our plan of action under those three schematics. This is the overall picture of the Summit of the Americas that is going to take place in 22 days.

Q (Off mike) -- I saw that you have a meeting in the Caribbean this week of the coordinating committee -- (inaudible) -- that it was not possible to finish to give final approval to the political declaration. If that is so, can you confirm it? And what are the obstacles or the resistance? And then what do you expect to do about it?

MR. LORTIE: Well, it was never the intention to complete it. We started the discussions to build a general framework of the political declarations, but that's where we obtain a consensus on the democratic clause. Therefore we still have some work to do. We have one more meeting to go, and you mentioned -- (inaudible) -- that's the (surge ?) meeting. And we have one more meeting to go between our personal representatives the week of -- (inaudible) -- going to meet for three days. And therefore we are going to complete our work. But the political declaration, to be very clear on that, the political declaration is going to be completed in Quebec City by the leaders themselves, because we will not arrive with the final document before the summit. We are going to have the framework, we are going to have the directions. But leaders will have to give their -- I mean, that is their document -- they are signing it on the dotted line at the end of the summit. Therefore they are going to be involved. Barbados launched a process -- they launched the process in a very dynamic way because the heart of the political declaration is going to be democracy -- is going to be the democratic clause.

Q Stewart Albin (ph) from the Financial Times. I wanted to ask you to clarify a bit more on the democracy clause. Let's assume we have an FTAA completed in 2005. Are you saying then that if a country were subsequently to have a military coup, to cease to be a democratic country, that it would then no longer be eligible for the trade preferences negotiated under the FTAA? Is that what a democracy clause would mean?

MR. LORTIE: That's the intention of the democracy clause. The democracy clause is a clause that is encompassing all hemispheric cooperation, including the FTAA, including the preferential treatment we are developing in the political field, in the social, economic and commercial fields. Therefore that is the intention of the democracy clause.

Q Let me follow up. This would obviously go well beyond the WTO. I mean, you have a situation now where Burma for instance continues to be a member of the WTO, even though it is a military dictatorship. You want to set a new example --

MR. LORTIE: We have to remember that the FTAA is more than the WTO. The FTAA is a preferential agreement. How many preferential agreements do we have? Look at the European Union -- if you want to know a democratic clause, look at their text before Greece, Portugal and Spain were democracies. And look at the Mercosur. Therefore we are talking here a preferential agreement. We are not talking about another type of trade agreement -- that's what we are talking about. And if we are going to give each other preferences we have to have fundamental common values. And those values are based on democratic values.

Q Just one more follow-up, to be crystal clear. If a U.S. company, for instance, had invested perhaps tens of millions of dollars in Peru because it expected certain trade benefits and there were a military coup, that company, those foreign investors, would suddenly be in a situation where they no longer received the trade preferences. That's a very high risk, would it not be, for investors to --

MR. LORTIE: If there is a military coup tonight -- I can tell you one thing, if there is a military coup tonight in Peru or anywhere else in the hemisphere, that same company is going to be penalized heavily on the stock market tomorrow morning. That's why governments have a responsibility to strengthen democracy. It is relevant to the daily lives of citizens not only in that country, but in an interdependent world.

Q Scotland -- (coughs) -- excuse me, Jamie -- (inaudible) -- Scotland's Business AM newspaper. Can I follow on from my colleague on the democratic clause? What kind of mechanism would be used to decide if the preferences had stopped, let's say, in terms if there had been a military coup? But also, beyond that, would there be anything in terms of if there was a martial law declared for civil society reasons in a country, would they again be struck out from the agreement?

And secondly, second question, you talked about financing of parties. Is there anything there that may be relevant to the current debate on Capitol Hill in terms of campaign finance changes in the United States?

MR. LORTIE: On the second question, countries are very much looking at all kinds of issues. And there it's more questions of sharing information. We were talking, for instance, about connectivity and the importance of creating new networks. We're going to create in Quebec City a new network between parliamentarians. We're going to create, you know, a link between our parliaments of the Americas. And, of course, relevant to parliamentarians is the financing of political parties. It is an avenue not to establish standards, but it is to share information. It is to share -- (inaudible). And that is, in this very construction, very useful.

On the questions of the democratic clause, leaders are going to give also a very clear and framed political signal that their foreign ministers are being tapped since Windsor -- not much before Windsor, but certainly highlighted in Windsor given the Peruvian situation at that time, the importance to refine and define and strengthen and reinforce democracy in the hemisphere. But the work is ongoing. The work will not stop there. The work is ongoing. Ministers of foreign affairs are going to pick up the ball and go to to -- (inaudible) -- when they meet in the first week of June, where they're going to tackle, define, refine. And that's the reason, you know, democracy is now a reality of great importance in the hemisphere.

Q Can I just ask a follow-up question? What would the mechanism be to -- would all countries in the Americas have to vote on a country being temporarily suspended?

MR. LORTIE: Well, the OAS has already a mechanism on that, and the OAS's main task -- I don't know if you were, for instance, at the -- or if you follow here in Washington the OAS executive council, because they tackle those issues on a regular basis. And when I mentioned Peru, the entire annual meeting last year, last June, was focused on Peru, how to restore democracy in Peru, where the discussions were really vibrant last June. And the political evolution in Peru in the last few months is the proof that when the OAS and outsiders wishes to sustain a political process, it could make a difference.

Q It's quite apparent that --

MODERATOR: If you could identify yourself.

Q (Inaudible) -- with the Copley News Service. In the absence of any congressional action on fast-track trade authority, what kind of a problematical impact is that likely to have on the discussions, both in the plenary sessions and in a kind of more generic psychological sense? I mean, isn't that going to be something that's going to kind of retard this sense of forward motion?

MR. LORTIE: Not really at this moment, but nations -- you know, it will be the first occasion for President Bush to attend a multilateral international event. Therefore, it will be an important moment for other leaders to hear what the president has to say on this very question, because let's face it, the hemisphere has been waiting the so-called fast-track authority for the last six years. Therefore, when you say "retard," the answer is no, it will not retard the movement. It will carry on. But I believe leaders will expect an expression of views on the part of the new American president on this very issue since it was discussed and is discussed extensively.

MODERATOR: Next question on this side.

Q (Inaudible) -- Canadian Broadcasting. Ambassador, given the go-slow, if not rather unenthusiastic attitude towards an FTAA from countries like Brazil and Venezuela, is there concern that the draft agreement might be a somewhat watered-down version that would not give the kind of impulse to quick movement towards the agreement?

MR. LORTIE: Naturally, I don't want to be -- we should not portray unfairly the position of the two countries you mentioned, Brazil and Venezuela. Brazil is going to enter into a presidential election. The discussions vis-a-vis the FTAA is an important political issue in Brazil. It is -- you know, it is being debated. It is very important.

Having said that, at the table of negotiations, Brazil is very constructive. It's a full-fledged participant. They're very (proud ?) over there. But, at the same time, Brazil doesn't want to be rushed. And there was some proposal earlier during the year that maybe we could toss forward the agreement, for instance. Well, at this very moment, everybody agrees that we have a date. It is 2005. It is the date to implement the agreement in 2005. And everybody is working in a very constructive way.

As far as Venezuela is concerned, that's the first time I hear that, because the Venezuelan partners are always -- you know, in all my discussions with Venezuela, they've been extremely constructive and engaged in the context of the trade negotiations. But I plead ignorance if there is a change of mood in the last few days on that, because the Venezuelans have been very constructive on it on the context of the negotiations. I mean, the negotiations are very precise. You know, we are negotiating in nine various groups, and there are expressions of views being expressed sometimes by commentators that have described the attitude of a country. But at the table of negotiations, good negotiators are there and working very diligently. The Buenos Aires meeting is going to be the indicator. The main indicator for the Quebec City summit, is going to emerge out of the trade ministerial meeting in Buenos Aires that will conclude on April 7th.

MODERATOR: Last question, all the way in the back.

Q Jose Careno, El Universal, Mexico. Going back to the democratic clause, I wonder if you are concerned or if you have anything at all preventing or helping that this clause could benefit or could strengthen or relate to the Helms-Burton bill and the sanctions to Cuba.

MR. LORTIE: No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no. (Speaks in Spanish.)

Q (Inaudible) -- friends with Canada.

MR. LORTIE: She will remain a friend of Canada, indeed. But in the context of the Summit of the Americas, Cuba is not included. We always have a -- (inaudible) -- vis-a-vis Cuba. When discuss with Cuban authorities the questions of human rights, the questions of fundamental liberty, the question of freedom of expression, there suddenly we get silence. Okay, we get silence. That's fine. We carry on. You know, carry on with our economic relationship and investment relationship. Canadians carrying on and investing there and going there. That's fine. But we're not going to develop preferential agreements. The word preferential make a difference here. There's a difference between a WTO and an FTAA. And that's the reason the Canadian government has only three types of -- three agreements, three free trade agreements. We only have three. We don't have a, you know, multitude. Only three: NAFTA, Chile and Israel.

MODERATOR: Next question.

Q (Inaudible.) I just wanted to know, what can we expect from the meeting in Buenos Aires, the meeting of the ministers of trade? Is there going to be like a chronogram with very precise dates of how the negotiations are going to take place? Is the final declaration going to say, for example, Mercosur is going to negotiate FTAA as a bloc? What are we looking for?

MR. LORTIE: I don't think that the pattern of the negotiation is going to change out of Buenos Aires. Mercosur is consulting, but each country is negotiating at the table. We've been doing it for the last three years. And I don't detect the change of -- you know, we're going to carry on there. And it's not the negotiations from NAFTA, Mercosur -- (inaudible). No, no, no, no, no. Everybody is consulting, but, you know, moving in the negotiations, defending their own interests, and moving those interests forward.

Therefore, we are expecting the overall architecture of an agreement. The nine groups have been negotiating in a very non- integrated way, if I may say so. You have the group on tariffs. You have a group on agriculture; a group on the creation of a dispute- settlement mechanism. You have investment. You have intellectual property. You have government procurement. Those are the nine groups, you know. I mean, maybe I missed one or two, but if you go on the Web site, you'll see the nine groups there. Those are the nine groups.

But Argentina being the chair has to provide and propose to the other countries the overall architecture. How is the FTAA going to look like? You know, I mean, how is that going to be integrated all together? That is going to be discussed in Buenos Aires.

In terms of calendar, Buenos Aires is going to give the baton after the ministerial meeting to Ecuador. Ecuador has the responsibility to chair for the next 15 months, and after that Brazil and the United States as co-chair to complete the negotiations from 2003 to 2005. But that has been established already from the start, going to be reaffirmed. But what is important is Buenos Aires is that you're going to have new ministers of trade arriving there for their very first meeting. What are they going to say? United States, you raise a very relevant question; Mexico; the new foreign minister and trade minister out of Brazil. Those are very key players indeed in the negotiations, and they're going to meet in the FTAA context for the very first time in Buenos Aires. Reaffirmation of the political will is, no doubt, very important.

Q (Off mike.) There is a rumor that Brazil and the United States could take the co-chairman of the negotiations six months in advance. Is that correct?

MR. LORTIE: I wouldn't know. I'm not in the picture there. I don't know. I don't know. Six months, we're talking. Six months in advance we're talking.

Q (Off mike.)

MR. LORTIE: I think that will be -- (inaudible). I don't know. I don't know that. It will be clarified, no doubt, in Buenos Aires, but I don't know.

MODERATOR: Time for two or three more questions in English and we can take questions in -- (inaudible).

Q (Inaudible) -- Bridge News. Is it envisioned that when the nine negotiating groups finish meeting in Buenos Aires that there will be an opportunity in Quebec City for them to continue meeting in some type of limited or even informal way outside of the leaders' meeting? And, if so, would there be some synergy there between the negotiating groups in the leaders' meeting?

MR. LORTIE: Unlikely. Unlikely. Time is very short, number one, in Quebec City. And the only time where leaders will not be accompanied by their ministers -- and it's not everybody who's going to take his trade minister to Quebec City, by the way. Therefore, the only time is that Saturday afternoon. That will be the only time. And as far as the Canadian trade minister and some of his colleagues, they're going to engage in a dialogue with civil society that afternoon. Therefore, in terms of formal meeting, I would say no; chit-chatting here and there, well, could be.

Q (Off mike.)

MR. LORTIE: I did not mention, but each leader is going to be accompanied by their ministers, to see the ministers they're going to take with them in Quebec City. No doubt the foreign minister is going to be there, and the trade minister is likely. We're talking a lot about connectivity. Some countries wish to take the science and technology minister. Therefore, very likely those ministers will accompany their leaders in the plenary session, which is a full morning on Saturday and a full morning on Sunday.

So you only have the afternoon of Saturday, the 21st of April, for what you call, you know, another meeting of trade ministers. And there, for that occasion, the Canadian trade minister will invite his trade minister colleagues and his foreign affairs colleagues to go and meet and engage with representatives of civil society. Therefore, we don't expect, you know, any movement there.

MODERATOR: Any more questions?

MR. LORTIE: Thank you.

MODERATOR: Mr. Ambassador, thank you very much.

MR. LORTIE: Thank you.

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