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Pathways to Prosperity: An Overview

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Although the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) has been delayed, there is considerable interest within the US and its hemispheric trading partners to form an alliance that will serve as an interim partnership of the 13 countries that have bilateral agreements with the US.  The response has been the Pathways to Prosperity initiative which will become a forum at which nations can talk about other issues important to trade, such as health, education, the environment and labor practices.  The initiative will also link trade and development and ensure that the benefits of trade and economic growth reach the poorest and most vulnerable. 

    On December 10th, 2008, Panama City, Panama hosted the first ministerial for Pathways.  All invitees agreed in a pledge to review labor and environmental practices in an effort to make sure that trade helps rather than hurts their countries.  The ministers also released a statement after the session that pledged to look for the best ways to avoid environmental degradation and labor abuses, two problems critics say have been aggravated by the pursuit of more trade business.  During the ministerial, the 13 nations discussed and collaborated over the five guidelines set out in the joint Communiqué:

1)    To increase opportunities for citizens and small businesses to take advantage of trade through trade capacity building.
2)    To promote and deepen an open architecture for regional trade consistent with the multilateral trading system.
3)    To expand regional cooperation on economic development and competitiveness.
4)    To enhance cooperation and exchange best practices on labor and environmental standards and enforcement.
5)    To engage civil society and the private sector to advance these objectives, including through promotion of public-private partnerships.

These guidelines were released in a Declaration along with numerous other supporting statements outlining the mission of the initiative.  The member nations agreed to meet again in El Salvador during the first half of 2009 with the objective of taking stock of the work done to implement the Declaration.  Additional specific actions will also be examined in the next meeting.  Brazil and Ecuador were welcomed as observers.
 
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