Ecuadorian: joining FTAA is "suicide"

January 02, 2003
BBC Monitoring Latin America
by none

Foreign Minister-designate Dr Nina Pacari today described the
Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) that the United States is
promoting as "suicide".

"It would be suicide for Ecuador under current conditions; not
even the nation's business sector would have guarantees", she
said in an interview with Gamavision. The incoming foreign
minister said it is imperative to strengthen the Andean
Community (CAN,) comprised of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador,
Peru and Venezuela as a way to deal with FTAA.

Indigenous people believe that if the country joins the FTAA, local
industries would be seriously affected and could close in the
face of foreign competition, particularly in view of the production
costs in an economy that has been dollarized since 2000.

The country's social movements oppose FTAA, and
President-elect Lucio Gutierrez himself has said that it is a
"threat" to the economy of this Andean nation.