Representatives of the Government
of the United States of America and the Government of Uruguay
today in Montevideo, Uruguay, signed an agreement establishing
a Joint Commission on Trade and Investment ("Commission").
Assistant United States Trade Representative Regina Vargo
signed for the United States. Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs
Guillermo Valles signed for Uruguay.
In signing this agreement, both parties affirmed
their commitment to pursue means to increase trade and investment
between the United States and Uruguay, while simultaneously
coordinating their efforts to promote greater trade liberalization
through the World Trade Organization and the Free Trade
Area of the Americas.
According to the Agreement, the Commission’s
principal objectives will be to:
-
Provide a forum for policy
discussions, designed to strengthen trade and investment
relations between the United States of America and Uruguay;
-
Develop and implement
a work agenda to address topics of mutual interest including
the full range of trade and investment issues and measures,
as well as the restrictions that affect them;
-
Exchange points of view
on discussions and initiatives underway in regional of
multilateral organizations or fora in which both countries
participate, in order to foster concerted action;
-
Identify methods of cooperation
for addressing common trade problems in third markets;
-
Pursue the creation of
the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) by 2005;
-
Identify areas of common
interest in which the United States and Uruguay may agree
to take joint or individual actions to facilitate bilateral
trade and investment, which may be drawn into the FTAA
negotiations.
In addition to concluding
an agreement on the structure of the Commission, Assistant
Trade Representative Vargo and Vice Minister Valles agreed
on a draft Work Plan for 2002. In addition to creating opportunities
to confer on WTO and FTAA related issues, the Work Plan calls
for the two sides to establish Working Groups in the areas
of Services, including financial services and telecommunications,
Biotechnology and Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary Measures, and
Information Technology, including electronic commerce and
intellectual property.
The Commission may also establish ad hoc
working groups, composed of officials from appropriate government
ministries and agencies, to address specific issues of mutual
interest. Conclusions or recommendations reached by all
the Working Groups shall be submitted to the Commission
for agreement on future actions.
The parties agreed that the Commission shall
meet at least once a year, and the location of the meeting
will alternate between the two countries.
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