General Theme: National Legislatures and the Issue of Hemispheric Integration

Focus: Participation of National Parliaments in the creation of a Free Trade Area of the Americas

Chairperson: Rep. Guillermo Alvarez Iriarte, President of the Chamber of Representatives of Uruguay;

Report: Rep. Luiz Carlos Hauly, Brazil

Caricom: Ambassador Samuel Rudolph Insanally, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guiana;

SICa: Ms. Sara de Gloobe, Ambassador of Costa Rica in Brazil;

Andean Community of Nations: Mr. Jorge Enrique Garavito, Ambassador of Costa Rica in Brazil;

Mercosur: Ambassador Clodoaldo Hugueney, Ministry of External Relations, Brazil;

FIPA: Rep. Luiz Carlos Hauly, Brazil

1. Explore virtues and drawbacks of past and current experiences from a parliamentary standpoint;
2. Examine the process of formulation of integration treaties;
3. Examine the level of participation of national legislatures in the formulation and implementation of integration experiences.

1. Globalization and the establishment of regional trading blocs as vehicles of integration: EU, NAFTA, APEC
2. The role of the World Trade Organization and regional trading blocs (MERCOSUR, Andean Community, CARICOM, and NAFTA) in the process of hemispheric integration;
3. Negotiating the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA);
4. American sub-regional trade agreements in the context of a free trade area in the Americas

Chairperson: Rep. Willian Rafael Lara, President of the National Assembly of Venezuela;

1. Identify factors limiting the competitiveness of sub-regional economies;
2. Identify action to stimulate wide-ranging economic competitiveness in different ways;
3. FTAA’s positive/negative aspects for national development

1. Access to markets: tariff and non-tariff measures, sanitary and phytosanitary regulations, trade remedies, services.
2. Export subsidies and other related measures.
3. Investment and government procurement
4. Estimated impact of the establishment of FTAA on employment, GNP and income of sub-regional economies
5. Internal measures designed to increase economic competitiveness: infrastructure, education, health, science and technology, and tax legislation.

Chairperson: Mrs. Alix Boyd-Knights, Speaker of the House of Assembly of Dominica;

Report: Rep. Paulo Delgado, Brazil

1. Stimulate public participation in debate and analysis of issues related to hemispheric integration;
2. Create national fora;
3. Create institutional channels for public participation in integration process

1. Political parties and hemispheric integration
2. Interest groups and hemispheric integration
3. The role of the mass media in widening the debate about hemispheric integration

Chairperson: Mr. Ramdien Sardjoe, Speaker of the National Assembly of Suriname;

Report: Senator Jefferson Peres, Brazil

1. Study institutional arrangements defined by several countries in the hemisphere and the experience of the European Union with respect to the participation of parliaments in the process of treaty negotiation;
2. Define means to make the participation of legislators in the process of treaty negotiation feasible and effective.

1. Executive-legislative relations during the process of negotiating international economic treaties;
2. Instruments for effective participation of national legislatures in the creation of FTAA
3. Instruments for effective participation of national legislatures in the decision-making process inherent to integration treaties.