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Derestricted
FTAA.ngsv/inf/24
August 12, 2003
Original: Spanish
Translation: FTAA Secretariat
FTAA – CONSULTATIVE GROUP ON SMALLER ECONOMIES
ANDEAN COMMUNITY
PROJECT PROPOSAL WITHIN THE
FRAMEWORK OF THE HEMISPHERIC COOPERATION PROGRAM
Introduction
At the Ninth Meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC), held in Managua,
Nicaragua from 26 to 28 September 2001, the TNC instructed the Consultative
Group on Smaller Economies and the Tripartite Committee to draft a proposal for
a Hemispheric Cooperation Program (HCP), bearing in mind the needs of the
countries and the negotiating groups.
This project describes the services-related needs of the Andean Community member
countries and is consistent with the objectives of the Hemispheric Cooperation
Program, which were drawn up by the Consultative Group on Smaller Economies as
instructed by the TNC, and set forth in documents FTAA.sme/04 and FTAA.sme/06.
In particular, consideration has been given to the fact that the Hemispheric
Cooperation Program is meant to be a central support component for the FTAA that
will make it possible to respond effectively to the development requirements and
challenges arising from trade liberalization, in general, and the FTAA, in
particular.
Specifically, the HCP seeks to strengthen countries’ capacities to implement the
FTAA and participate fully in it, with the goal of promoting equitable growth
and inclusive economic development, enhancing institutional strengthening, and
building capacities to frame policies, develop negotiating strategies, and
implement the FTAA.
- Project Title
Support for the Andean Community to strengthen institutional capacity, needed
to implement its commitments and adapt to the integration process: strengthen
contact points
- Background
One of the fundamental principles of the FTAA process, in general, and the
Chapter on Services, in particular, is transparency.
In pursuit of transparency, Andean Community member countries must be prepared
to provide governments, services suppliers, and the wider public in its FTAA
partners with reliable and accurate information on rules and regulations that
affect the various services-related sectors, as well as to provide them with
information concerning procedures, requirements, and conditions for the
provision of services in any given country.
In most countries, the services sector is highly regulated. The corresponding
regulation, in both the legal and technical spheres, is developed through
various agencies and at different governmental levels, generating a high level
of dispersion of functions and bodies with links to the sectors and subsectors
involved.
To implement the transparency principle and related measures in the FTAA, an
information system is needed to link the different regulatory bodies and
services regulations with the body designated as contact point so that the
information it is entrusted to provide is, in turn, delivered to it in a timely
and reliable manner.
- Rationale
As pointed out in the foregoing paragraphs, the rationale behind this project is
that it builds countries’ capacities to implement a fundamental aspect of the
FTAA, namely the principle of transparency.
- Objectives of the project:
A general objective of this project is to strengthen the Andean Community’s
services-related information services, which are needed to implement FTAA
transparency commitments.
The project is specifically aimed at enhancing the services information system
such as to ensure appropriate operation and operability of the different
national contact points and their linkage with the General Secretariat of the
Andean Community.
- Inputs: resources needed for the project
- A study by two experts, funded through international cooperation, to
identify the latest information sources and other information management
conditions that must be made available through the contact points and drafting
of a technological proposal for putting the necessary systems in place.
- Meeting of government delegates and experts to discuss the technological
proposal during a three-day working meeting.
- Prepare domestic evaluations to determine the viability of the
implementation of the proposed system and to identify the financial resources
needed.
- Search for financial and technical assistance resources needed to support
national institutions in their system.
- Expected Results
It is expected that a reliable and sustainable information system and linkages
between government and private institutions enabling the supply of
services-related information will be in place in approximately two years, thus
applying the principle of transparency.
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