Weekly Report - 14 October 2003

It is most unlikely that the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) will have been finalised by its original launch deadline of 2005. The prediction comes from Sebastián Edwards, president of the Latin American and Caribbean Economics Association (Lacea), which last year held its eighth congress in Puebla, Mexico. Edwards sees two obstacles in the way of the original calendar: the issue of agricultural trade — motive for the collapse of the WTO meeting in Cancún — and Brazil's stance.