Secretary's Speech

U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez
American Chamber of Commerce in Guatemala
Guatemala City, Guatemala

Let me begin by saying that our thoughts and prayers are with all those in the region who have suffered through the recent natural disasters.

I had a briefing about the situation yesterday. I heard about the great work the U.S. Southern Command helicopter squad is doing. They’ve been flying non-stop to transport emergency assistance and to evacuate the injured.

And I want to thank you, the members of the business community, for all you are doing to help the victims through your donations of money, food, water and other essential supplies.

I’m glad to have this opportunity to meet with you. I’ve been looking forward to personally thanking the AmCham board and members for your hard work on CAFTA-DR.

It was a tough fight. It was a close vote. But with your help, and the help of others who saw CAFTA’s great potential, we succeeded.

And, over the long-haul, I believe everyone will be a winner.

Free trade is fundamentally good for countries. And freedom, free enterprise and free trade are strongly in the best interests of every person in our hemisphere.

CAFTA will bring economic growth to Central America. It will contribute to the rise of a vibrant middle class. And it will create a stronger hemisphere.

I also want to thank you for the exceptional difference that your companies are already making in this region.

In my private sector career, I worked and traveled in Central America for 25 years.

Like many of you, I know what it was like a generation ago. And I see how much progress has been made.

You and your companies deserve some credit for this.

President Bush said our goal should be a hemisphere in which the opportunities in San Jose, Costa Rica, are as real as they are in San Jose, California.

Under President Bush’s leadership:

• The United States is the world’s fastest growing major industrialized economy.
• Over the past four quarters, our economy grew 3.6%.
• Unemployment is now 4.9%, and more Americans are working than ever before.

As you know, free and fair trade is a strong element of the President’s economic-growth agenda.

We are committed to a successful conclusion of the Doha round. The reduction of trade barriers and subsidies will benefit every nation.

We are also committed to the successful implementation of the CAFTA agreement.

We want the positive momentum that you’ve helped generate to continue.

CAFTA-DR does that. CAFTA is about the future.

It opens the door for more trade and investment in our hemisphere. And that means growth.

There is no substitute for growth.

The World Bank reports that economies that sign free trade agreements tend to grow an additional 0.6 annually during the first five years after implementation.

For CAFTA, this would translate into lifting nearly a half million Central Americans out of poverty by 2010.

As I told President Berger earlier today, I’m here now with 19 company representatives eager to do business in the region.

They’ve come to do what you have done: establish partnerships, invest, and create jobs and opportunities here and at home.

I am also traveling with an interagency delegation with a broad range of expertise on leveraging resources.

We in the Americas need to continue building regional economic frameworks to remain globally competitive. We need to do it to ensure that jobs remain in this hemisphere and are not exported abroad.

And we need to do it because in Europe and Asia, countries are working together to improve their competitive position.

China is negotiating free trade agreements with regional trading partners, including the Association of South East Asia Nations and Australia. Japan and Korea each have an FTA agenda of their own with countries in the region.

But, as you well know, signing a free trade agreement is a beginning. There’s a lot of hard work yet to be done.

Governments have to create the right conditions for expanding trade and investment in the region.

That includes improved infrastructure, access to credit, secondary and technical education, and streamlined government regulations.

We look to you in the business community to work with government to enact the sound policies that promote growth, transparency and strong institutions.

To assist this public-private partnership, the Commerce Department will be working with the business communities in the region to foster good governance practices.

We encourage all of you to join us in this effort.

We believe that building a climate of trust is a prerequisite to attracting investment and reliable trading partners.

And that means everybody is playing by the same rules.

As you might expect, I’ve been discussing CAFTA-DR implementation with government officials here. And I will be doing so in Honduras and El Salvador.

We want to make sure that you get the benefits of the bargain.

We will be closely monitoring commitments made by our partners to ensure full compliance.

IPR protection is a high priority. Our CAFTA-DR partners have committed to important legal reforms that will enhance intellectual property rights. Enforcement of these commitments will be essential to generate new investment. We’re working closely with our CAFTA partners.

We want to make sure the agreement benefits U.S., Central American and Dominican Republic businesses and workers.

The AmCham has been an important force for change and progress. You’re investing capital. You’re taking risks. You’re creating jobs. You’re helping to drive the emergence of a stable and democratic Central America. No one understands the commercial potential and the challenges ahead better than you.

As business and community leaders, you must continue to be an advocate of change, of growth, of opportunity. Here, but also regionally as well.

Our goal is to implement the CAFTA agreement by January 1, 2006. And we look forward to working with you to reach this target date.

The success of this historic free trade agreement will be good for the people in the United States and the CAFTA-DR countries.

It will also be another strategic building block in a stronger, more prosperous, more economically engaged hemisphere.

Thank you and God bless you.