`Free trade will usher in prosperity'

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, APRIL 22. Even as protesters tried their best to disrupt the second day's proceedings, the 34 leaders attending the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, Canada have ratified a plan on Saturday that denies participation of undemocratic nations in a massive free trade zone, the details of which will be presented on Sunday.

In acknowledging that globalisation did not mean all good news for everyone, the leaders have taken the position that the Free Trade Area now aimed at for 2005 and stretching from Alaska to Argentina will usher in more prosperity across the borders.

``There is a lot to celebrate, but there is also a lot to lament. We need a strong expansion of economic citizenship, to democratise the markets. Only by doing that can we develop the energy of the millions who have been excluded from economic development,'' argued the President of Mexico, Mr. Vincente Fox.

Outside the conference rooms, protest leaders scoffed at the notion that the leaders were speaking for the people who are really concerned about the implications of the Free Trade Area to such issues as environment or labour. Nearly 30,000 demonstrators have gathered at Quebec City, but law enforcement authorities maintain that only some 2000 or so were troublesome and violent. There have been at least 150 arrests.

The protesters' main target seems to be the chain link security fence which has been dubbed the Wall of Shame. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police - vivid of memories of Prague, Seattle and perhaps even the APEC meeting of 1997 in Vancouver - have been determined not to let the protesters anywhere near the main conference venue. In the two days of unrest, reports say that some 34 police officers and 57 demonstrators have been injured.

``We knew there were some people who wanted to come and stop us. But look what happened. We discussed democracy. We have a clause on democracy. We have discussed all the elements that are needed to help the 800 million people living in the Americas to prosper in the future,'' remarked the Canadian Prime Minister, Mr. Jean Chretien.

The so-called Democracy Clause was supposed to be one of the main highlights of the Summit of the Americas. The hemispheric meeting saw a notable absentee, Mr. Fidel Castro of Cuba, who was not invited to the conference for the simple reason that the country is not democratic.

But for the leaders who are participating, Quebec City has different messages for the hemisphere and beyond. To the American President, Mr. George W Bush, the notion of free and freer trade would only go the distance in democracies taking root.

``Together, let us go forward to build an age of prosperity in a hemisphere of liberty,'' said Mr. Bush. Leaders from small nations in the hemisphere see the Free Trade Area of the Americas as an opportunity for expanding the economy; and some others like Colombia see the utility in terms of being able to fight drug- trafficking on a better and stronger footing.

Mr. Bush, participating in his first major international summit, took the opportunity to reach out to Central and South America by offering assistance to modernise judicial institutions and rooting out corruption.

At a time when protests against globalisation are taking firm roots on a regular and sustained basis, the hemispheric leaders too seemed not to be too dismissive of the protests and demonstrations. Globalisation, in the view of the Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Mr. Kenny Anthony, has brought prosperity to some ``but we cannot deny it has destroyed the lives of others''.

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