Kenneth "Buddy" MacKay, White House special envoy to the Americas, speech, Bogota, Colombia, November 16, 1999

Kenneth "Buddy" MacKay, White House special envoy to the Americas, speech, Bogota, Colombia, November 16, 1999

STATEMENT BY KENNETH MACKAY

SPECIAL WHITE HOUSE ENVOY TO THE AMERICAS

Club El Nogal, November 16, 1999

Lunch hosted by the Colombian-American Chamber of Commerce

Thank you very much. I want to express my appreciation to Joe Finnin and the Am Cham here for hosting this lunch. I really appreciate the opportunity to be here with you today. I want to do two things in my comments. My staff is aware that I don't believe in long after-lunch speeches so I hope we'll have time for some dialogue, which I personally think is more useful than after lunch speeches. I would like to start out and talk briefly about the effort that Minister Ramírez and many of us are involved with. We are involved in the effort to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas. I would like to give you a status report on that and then I'd like to talk specifically about Colombia and what we've been doing today and some of the implications of what's going on here in the private sector.

A couple of weeks ago we were in Toronto. I'm from Florida. It was a little awkward for me. It was actually snowing a little bit and I'm not accustomed to that, but this was a meeting at the end of the five years after the Miami Summit The meeting where the trade ministers of the hemisphere, 34 ministers came together to review the negotiations that are leading toward the Free Trade Area of the Americas. That started with the Summit in Miami in 1994. Every now and then when time goes on and nothing dramatic is happening people tend to lose side of just how important this is. The free trade area of the Americas, this entire hemisphere, coming together as single free trade area would be the largest free trade area in the world. It will be 34 democracies, it'll have eight hundred million consumers and it'll have a gross domestic product of ten trillion dollars. This is extremely important, it is our future, it is our children's future and you can literally feel it coming together. There have been stories that we really aren't making the kind of progress we ought to be making. I was very pleased that the Toronto Ministerial, that the Trade Ministers looked at the progress and said, 'no, the truth is we are on schedule, this is what we committed to do, we've gotten this far, we've made very important progress. In fact, it's like we were digging the foundations of a building. Those of you who have done construction work know that you foot about 30 to 50 percent of the entire cost of the project in the ground before anything comes out of the ground, and if you don't do that right, you don't end with much of a building at all. So what we've been doing for the past two years in this negotiation is the foundation work for the structure which will be the Free Trade Area of the Americas. The structure is to be completed by the year 2005. I believe our own target, I believe it can happen and I believe it will happen.

Now, I'd like to talk just for a minute about one of the things Minister Ramírez was commenting on the book "The Lexus and the Olive Tree", which is kind of a clever title to talk about the globalization that is taking place in the world. And this was written by foreign affairs correspondent from the New York Times, and one of the points he's making is that everybody seems to think that globalization is something that the U.S. is pushing on to the rest of the world. The fact of the matter is rolling us along, it's like we are caught in the surf and it's rolling us along like it's rolling everyone else. And I think it's important to look at globalization and look at the free trade of the Americas in that fashion, because the truth of the matter is this hemispheric integration is coming together not because of what we are negotiating, although that is incredibly important. It's coming together because of what is going on in the private sector. It's coming together because people are making investments, people are taking risks, people are building pipelines, people are building highways, open skies agreements are being negotiated and signed and, in fact, the structure is being built. I sometimes think that the Ministers are negotiating the foundation, the structure is actually being built, and the structure is growing far beyond what anyone thought in Miami. In Miami nobody understood the implications of the Internet. I mean we are negotiating a structure that's got to be expanded to take into account what is happening in the private sector. The reason I wanted to say that to you is that I think it's incredibly important that the private sector in this hemisphere, the Am Cham's, the Chambers of Commerce, I think that it is very important that you all understand the role you are playing in this.

Let me just talk for one minute about the risks involved in trying to do a free trade area negotiation. In the European Community they started about forty years ago. They had 15 nations. Forty years later they have an integrated free trade area and they have an integrated community of nations coming together. We are trying to do with 34 nations in ten years what they have done with 15 nations in forty years. Incredibly important. One of the things we didn't take into account, since these 34 nations are democracies, is that there were going to be elections in everyone of these democracies. In the case of the U.S. there have been two election cycles between the time the Miami Summit started and the time the FTAA is finally signed and ratified in our Congress. We need to be sure that there is somebody here that stays focused on this and that is the institutional memory. The point I'm making is I think the private sector plays an incredibly important role in this. Joe Finnin and several of us where in Panama yesterday. In fact, Joe used those crutches at great advantage. Some lady was trying to cut us off, we might never have gotten in the airplane. And Joe sought of politely, Joe in the US would have probably been sued for that. But in any event, we were in a meeting of the AmCham of the hemisphere. The Association of Latin American chambers. An incredibly important meeting because that's the place where the energies are coming from and it's the place where the focus is coming from. And that gets me now to why I wanted to be here and why it's very important to me, as President Clinton's Envoy, trying to bring about this hemispheric integration. This country I think has got some of the great potential of any country in the world. It also got some extraordinary challenge. And they are all mixed in together. And the attention ineluctably is focused on the challenges. And I can understand where it would be as a Colombian, a Colombian businessperson, a Colombian leader. It would be easy to get discouraged. We were talking about this last week when Minister Ramírez had a group in Washington. And I said you know I want to be sure that there is somebody in the U.S. government talking about the extraordinary potential that this country has. Forty million people, right here in the very center of everything we are trying to do with a tremendous tradition of support for democracy. I want you all to know what it looked like when five to ten million people got out and marched in the street and said "hey, we are not bystanders, we want to see this thing solved." That did a tremendous ... for Colombia in the U.S. I've been in politics for thirty years, I think what it would be like in the U.S. to get that percent of our population to take to the street for something positive. We can get them in the streets but sometimes we then have to call out the law. I think that's extraordinary and it says a very good thing for Colombia, for the people of Colombia and for, what I see as the big picture. This morning we were hosted at a cut flower processing operation, Germán Botero, Germán thank you so much for hosting us and showing us what you are doing. I wish I could bring the U.S. Congress down here to see and to put a human face on what it means to say, "hey, we are going to focus on the worker". You gave me a statistic that I couldn't believe. My family has been in agriculture as I told you. The idea that 780 hectares, which I think in terms of acres, that's about 16, 17 hundred acres-- my math is terrible. As I say that is close for government work that 780 hectares of land could support 12 thousand workers. That's incredible, that's extraordinary. And here is a new, a new literally industry coming up. And in some ways what you are doing is you are making the point I am trying to make, that the future of the free trade area of the Americas doesn't depend on weather we get every i dotted and every t crossed in a treaty. The fact of the matter is it's happening all around us.

Then I had a chance to tour an .... processing plant here and it's the same thing: it's people who are being put to work, people who are going to be able to support their families, and people whose labor standards are at international labor standards levels, which I think is incredibly important. So I want to say to you that I think you are at a very important time in the history of your country. A time when people are going to have to take a long view. I want to say on behalf of the government of the United States and on behalf of President Clinton and Vice President Gore: We support President Pastrana, we support the peace process, we support Plan Colombia, we think that it's well thought out and I want you to know this is not a time for great pessimism in your country. I think it's a time of great optimism. Now, I don't want to say any more because I'd make a lie of my first statement that I don't want to make a long speech. I am very pleased to be here I hope to be able to help focus over the next year and continuing there after, to help focus on the economic side, free market side of the country of Colombia. I think that's where the drama is going to be and I believe that's where Colombia's great potential is going to be realized. I appreciate very much those of you who are all taking the risk, making the commitment, not proposing to leave. And you are the people who are going to solve I think the problems in this country and you are going to be very much a part of the leadership of solving the problems of the free trade area of the Americas and of this hemisphere. Let me stop with that I'll be happy to respond to your questions.

Roberto Willis. Bloomberg News

Good afternoon Governor MacKay. My question is, Colombia was very disappointed last week to hear that the negotiations, the debate over the $1.5 billion aid for the Andean regions most of it which would be to Colombia would be put off until next year. Are you here, in part, to reassure Colombian leaders that the Administration plans to go full steam ahead with this? And if so, as budget negotiations generally end up towards the end of the year, would there be any chance of expecting that this could be approved before the end of next year? Thank you

Kenneth Mackay

Plan Colombia was submitted. It has been well received in both political parties in the United States. It has been presented to Congress, it's well received there and it is well received by our administration. The Clinton Administration, the U.S. government, is currently making major efforts to support Colombia in the antinarcotics efforts, and those efforts will be continued. It's at the level of 200 million dollars a year, this year. Now, the question of the exact time in which the Plan Colombia funding will be considered is not a question that I could answer. I personally was in Congress for most of the 80's and I know some of the risks in trying to forecast what will happen in the U.S. Congress. But all I want to say to you is this timing problem is not a lack of confidence in President Pastrana and it is not showing any criticism or lack of confidence in Plan Colombia. I believe we will get to it and I believe we'll get to it sooner rather that later.

Claudia Leonor Vesga. Canal Caracol

You have talked about hemispheric integration, has the U.S. thought that if the correct measures over U.S. aid to Colombia are not taken, this integration could be blocked because of the problems our country is suffering?

Kenneth Mackay

Colombia this year has complied with the certification process, which is the process our government uses. My belief is that the FTAA is going to go forward and Colombia is going to be a major player in bringing this hemisphere together. Our government's policy is to support President Pastrana in the negotiations with the guerrilla groups. Our government's policy is also to support the antinarcotics efforts and we believe that's the proper role for our government and the certification is part of the law of the United States and Colombia has complied.

Claudia Gaona. RCN Radio

Good afternoon, you mentioned that Colombia has a great potential, you have had the opportunity of traveling to different countries, meeting businessmen. What real possibilities are seen from the outside of Colombia on the recuperation of Colombian economy, the possibilities of making new investments and achieving higher commercial rates between Colombia and the U.S.?

Kenneth MacKay

Well, that goes to the heart of the thesis I was laying out in my comments. I look at Colombia as a country that has had always a very strong economy, a strong economic team, a team that knows what they are doing and continue to believe that. Colombia is now caught in a recession that is making things extremely difficult. My hope is that our government can find ways to support the government of Colombia that can restore investor confidence and enable Colombia to realize the huge potential it has. I know people who believe, for instance, in the oil industry that has extraordinary potential here and it's going to require capital, it's going to require a high level of security, and that is just one example. I think that the chances are good but we can help with multinational financing institutions, help encourage them to be aggressively back in Colombia. My hope is that the economy will turn around. I hope fairly soon and I believe that when that happens the other problems, the other challenges come into perspective much more quickly.

Questions from members of the American Chamber

Q: What importance does the U.S. give to the Presidential Summit that is taking place in La Habana, Cuba?

Kenneth Mackay

This are more that 40 democracies that are going to Cuba -- presidents who are democratically elected, they respect the civil rights of their citizens, they allow political dissent, they believe in open markets. I don't think anything threatening about them going there and saying to Castro, "Hey, what about you?". I would just say the Pope went there and that Castro may have got a little religion out of that and I believe before this summit is over he may he get a little religion out of what they are going to say. So, it's not a threat to me at all, I think it's a very good exercise.

Q: The European Economic Community based its integration strategy in education and culture. In American integration we would like to know why trade is the only issue, what happens with education and culture strategies?

Kenneth Mackay

Well part of what I was doing this morning was asking these businesses about what are you doing for your workers and I was very pleased of the very forward-looking response that I got. Clearly if Colombia wants to compete in this global market you've got to have a strategy that focuses on your workers, it's your natural resource. I look at other countries in this hemisphere and you could see a couple of countries that focus on education and on health care over the years. I mean it's part of their history and they are on a very different track from the rest of Central and Latin America. I am talking about Costa Rica, which now has an Intel plant and is basically becoming a regional headquarters for all of these corporations. They are coming there because it's a place that has concern for the environment. It's a place where the education level is high. Uruguay is a country that is very much in the same situation. They are attractive to high-tech companies because they can provide an educated workforce. Now, I'm not here to lecture the government of Colombia or to the private sector. I wish the U.S. had solved this problem as well. We all have this problem but we have got to find, it's our long-term challenge, we have got to find ways to better educate our work force. And we've got to find ways that as democracy and free markets we really take hold. And the benefits to all of our people and those countries who do that are going to succeed in a big way and those who don't focus on that are going to basically ... their own future.

Q: During the Toronto Ministerial there was great preoccupation because of the absence of Ambassador Barshefsky. Does this mean a lack of interest from the U.S. in the creation of the FTAA? How strong is the commitment towards free trade? Because there are still cases that depend on specific amounts or shares to be exported, such as Colombian sugar or textiles.

Kenneth Mackay

I am glad you saved that for the last. Thought I was going to get out of here on ... Let me talk a little more about the FTAA and the way our government sees that. You can look at the debate that's going on in our political parties and it's a debate that it's going on in both political parties, the Democrats have a debate going on about free trade and labor the Republicans have a debate going on. Control of our Congress is very narrowly divided. And that's a very important debate if you wanted to think about it that is the U.S. version of the civil society debate. How do you incorporate concerns that aren't strictly trade concerns in the old debate about free trade? I don't know how that turns out. But let me ask you to look one other place. Look at our presidential election, because that's where our country decides the future that's where our country chooses between two competing visions. And that sets us on our course for the next four years and let me tell you something, the major candidates in both political parties are committed to the Free Trade Area of the Americas and are committed to free trade. Now that's where you ought to be looking. Our country is not backing away from free trade, our country is having a debate about how you incorporate concerns about working people and the environment and civil rights and a lot of other things into the whole globalization issue. It's a very healthy debate and frankly that's why I wanted to make the point to you as business leaders in Colombia. That debate is going to go on and we are going to have elections in every country in this hemisphere and somebody's got to keep their eye on the ball. I can tell you the U.S. will be there after this election, we'll be there in a role of leading the effort toward free trade in the Americas and you don't need to worry about that.

Now, the other question: "How can we lead the effort to free trade when we ourselves are not free from sin?" When this is over with you end up with a process, you don't end up with a point, a specific ... when one side says we won and we lost. You end up with a process where the people who feel that they are being aggrieved have got a forum where they can get a fair answer by a specific set of rules that everybody understands. Look at NAFTA. NAFTA is the Canada, the U.S. and Mexico and that's the way NAFTA is working, and it's working right. I think it's working the same way that the WTO is working. The little company from the little country has got just as good a shot at getting a fair hearing as the big multinational company from the biggest company in the world. That's what we are working toward. We are not going to solve all the disputes. A free trade area of the Americas is not a place where everybody loves each other. You are all in the private sector, you know what it's like to be competitors. People are still going to fight. We have got to have a rule-driven system of trade and it's got to be a rule driven of system that is fair for the little companies, the new guy on the block, just like it is for the biggest company in the world. The U.S. is leading the effort to try to achieve that kind of system. Thank you very much.

(End text)

(Distributed by the Office of International Programs, U.S. Department of State)

As of March 13, 2000, this document is also available at http://www.usia.gov/regional/ar/colombia/mackay1116.htm