MIAMI, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- The following was issued today by Florida
FTAA President Jorge L. Arrizurieta:
Dear Editor:
As Americans took to the polls during one of the most important elections
in history, they had one goal in mind: reelecting George W. Bush.
President Bush is the first presidential candidate to win more than 50% of
the popular vote since 1988, receiving the most votes by any presidential
candidate in history -- over 58 million -- and becoming the first President
reelected while gaining seats in the House and the Senate since 1936.
Despite an ongoing stream of distorted reports and campaign rhetoric, the
American people did the right thing for the Unites States, for the western
hemisphere and the free world. Their resolute decision to allow President
Bush a second four-year term will allow for tremendous continued growth and
development in the region.
As several Latin American diplomats and executives have already remarked,
it paves the way for the resumption of negotiations for a free trade agreement
spanning the Americas. "The focus will now be the negotiations for the FTAA,"
said Rubens Barbosa, a former Brazilian ambassador to the U.S. who runs a
foreign trade consulting company in Sao Paulo, in an interview with Bloomberg.
Resounding support has been voiced across the hemisphere. In fact, one of
the first Latin American leaders to congratulate Bush was Mexican President
Vicente Fox in a written message in which he urged the U.S. president to take
up issues of bilateral interest again as soon as possible.
In Colombia, one senior trade negotiator said of the U.S. election
results: "I'm very happy...This is going to make the negotiations much
easier."
The Brazilian private sector also responded: "We already know that Bush
and the Republicans are very open on trade policy," said Frederico Gerdau
Johannpeter of Brazil's biggest steel products firm, Gerdau. "Reaction to the
Bush victory is already being seen in the financial market, and this is
positive for everyone."
International trade was just one of the many issues distorted during the
recent U.S. election cycle, yet it is clear that Americans, too, failed to
believe the ominous rhetoric of individuals like Lou Dobbs, who has
erroneously claimed that free trade agreements will "threaten our workers'
livelihoods and worsen our spiraling trade imbalance," when truly nothing
could be further from the truth.
President Bush's record as president has certainly been unequivocally pro-
trade. In August, the Wall Street Journal went so far as to call his
administration's unapologetic defense of free trade in an election year
"audacious." This second term for President Bush will bring much needed
continuity in trade policy. Free trade means building trading partnerships
that will continue to strengthen the institutional foundations of freedom and
democracy throughout the hemisphere and open greater economic opportunities
for all. It is more than an economic integration tool. It is an instrument
for enshrining values that are important to us all -- openness, freedom and
fairness.
Open and expanded trade will benefit all 34 nations of the FTAA. It will
lead to better jobs, with bigger paychecks, in more competitive businesses, as
well as to more choices of goods and inputs, with lower prices, for hard-
working families and hard-driving entrepreneurs.
The Bush Administration recognizes this.
His reelection provides a framework for continued successful negotiations.
Trade and investment are the engines driving inter-American relations today
and free trade agreements, both bi-lateral and multi-lateral, voluntarily
initiated and ratified by President Bush and the heads of state of the western
hemisphere, provide the much needed fuel.
The rallying cry for this integration must be the reality of the
competition our hemisphere faces daily from Europe and the Asian continent.
Globalization is not a possibility of the future but rather a reality of the
present. It is a necessity, not a luxury, in order for the Americas to gain a
competitive advantage over larger economies.
As part of this historic process that began in Miami nearly a decade ago,
we reaffirm our commitment to secure Miami as the Permanent Secretariat of the
FTAA. We must continue to work this process understanding and accepting that
it is a politically complex undertaking but not an impossible one.
Today more than ever we are well-positioned to turn this vision into a
reality and with four more years under President Bush's administration and the
unwavering leadership of Governor Jeb Bush, we remain at the forefront of this
new economy. Now more than ever, it is no longer a question of if the FTAA
will be signed and the Secretariat will be placed in Miami, but rather a
question of when it will take place.
Sincerely,
Jorge L. Arrizurieta
President
Florida FTAA, Inc.
SOURCE Florida FTAA
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Related links:
http://www.floridaftaa.org
CONTACT:
Nicole de Lara of Florida FTAA,
+1-305-476-5451, or ndelara@floridaftaa.org
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