FREE TRADE IN THE AMERICAS

The Plan of Action supported economic integration and free trade in the hemisphere and reaffirmed the steadfast commitment to multilateral rules and disciplines.

The OAS was given a directive of the utmost importance in this regard. The Plan established an immediate action agenda to achieve the "Free Trade Area of the Americas". That agenda directs the OAS' Special Committee on Trade (CEC), with the support of the IDB, ECLAC, and other specialized regional and subregional organizations, to assist in the systematization of data in the region and to continue its work on studying economic integration arrangements in the hemisphere.

It also instructs the OAS to assist the host country in arranging the ministerial meetings that will begin in July 1995.

For the OAS to perform its role of coordinator of efforts to bring together integration arrangements in the Americas, the technical assistance that the General Secretariat provides to the Special Committee on Trade will have to be significantly upgraded. With that end in mind, steps are being taken to form a Trade Unit, which will consist of a nucleus of Secretariat personnel and will conduct its work by retaining the services of expert technical consultants.

The development of telecommunications and information infrastructure is an essential component of political, economic, social and cultural development. The governments directed the OAS, via its Inter-American Telecommunications Commission (CITEL) and in coordination with the subregional organizations active in this field, to promote liberalization, common standards, interoperability of networks, compatible use of the radio spectrum, and greater consistency of certification processes for telecommunications equipment among member countries, and to develop regional guidelines for the provision of international value-added network services. The governments also decided to endorse a CITEL-coordinated meeting in 1996, attended by senior telecommunications officials.

The Plan of Action of the Summit of the Americas underscores the importance of cooperation in science and technology. The governments agreed, inter alia, to convene a meeting of ministers responsible for science and technology in 1996, to evaluate progress and to promote the Bolivar Program and the OAS Common Market of Scientific and Technological Knowledge (MERCOCYT), to provide the necessary support to improve scientific partnership and technological ventures in the region, and to explore the possibility of establishing a council on science and technology.

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