- Title: Chile: The Summit Of The America's Move Towards Its Conclusion
- Date: 19th April 1998
- Summary: Leaders from 34 American nations were set on April 19 to sign an action plan to launch talks for the world's largest free trade bloc, to broaden the regional fight against drugs and to attack poverty. But there will be no mention of Communist-ruled Cuba, the only American nation not invited to the second Summit of the Americas that ends with the signing of the Declaration of Santiago. Another key element of the Declaration of Santiago will be a new multilateral front in the fight against drugs, with a body under the Organisation of American States (OAS) set up to evaluate each country's anti-drug efforts. But the text will not set up a Pan-American alternative to the controversial United States (U. S. ) drugs "certification" process. For 12 years the US government has issued an annual list to Congress on whether narcotics producing or transit countries are co-operating in the war on drugs. Those nations that are blacklisted, or decertified, face economic sanctions. The process has done little to stop billions of dollars of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines and marijuana flowing into the United States. Drug enforcement officials say the drugs are cheaper and more readily available on US streets than ever. Another arduous task the leaders will sign into action is a plan to confront poverty and human rights abuses via education. Summit participants on Saturday agreed on a three-year, $6 billion program of World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank loans aimed at expanding primary education to all children in the region and secondary education to 75 percent by 2010. But launching the official negotiations for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is the centrepiece of the summit. The goal is to unite about 750 million people by 2005 in one trading bloc whose combined economies are worth 10 trillion US dollars.
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- Location: CHILE SANTIAGO
- Reuters ID: LDL00128Q1A97
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
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- Copyright Holder: Reuters Archive
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