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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.

  1. 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



  2. 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.


  3. 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.


  4. 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.


  5. Inputs: resources needed for the project

    1. 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.

    2. Meeting of government delegates and experts to discuss the technological proposal during a three-day working meeting.

    3. Prepare domestic evaluations to determine the viability of the implementation of the proposed system and to identify the financial resources needed.

    4. Search for financial and technical assistance resources needed to support national institutions in their system.


  6. 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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