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RIO DE JANEIRO -(Dow Jones)- An early November visit
by President
George W. Bush to Brazil may revive stalled talks on the Free Trade
Agreement of the Americas, or FTAA, Brazil's Trade and Industry
Minister Luiz Fernando Furlan said Wednesday, according to the Estado
Newswire.
Furlan said the FTAA talks were currently
"hibernating," but the
issue may be advanced during Bush's visit. Furlan spoke at a seminar at
the Foreign Ministry in Brasilia.
Bush will visit Brazil's capital briefly on Nov. 5 and
6, after
attending the Summit of the Americas in Mar de Plata, Argentina. The
summit will concentrate on labor issues, but the FTAA could be
discussed along the sidelines as most of the leaders of 34 North,
Central and South American countries will attend the meeting.
The final statement of the Mar de Plata summit,
however, won't
mention the FTAA, Afonso Jose Sena Cardoso, head of multilateral
political coordination of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, said
Wednesday in Brasilia, according to the Associated Press.
Brazil and the U.S. are co-chairing the FTAA talks,
but both
countries are currently paying more attention to the Doha round of
World Trade Organization talks than to the FTAA.
Talks about the FTAA - which would be a free-trade
area of 800
million people - were launched in 1994, but have stalled on
disagreements over U.S. agricultural subsidies and intellectual
property issues.
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva plans to
serve Bush a
traditional Brazilian barbecue during his visit, Furlan also said.
Brazilian barbecues are famous for their large portions of grilled
beef.
After an outbreak this month of the highly contagious
foot-and-mouth disease in several cattle-ranging properties in the
western Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, 43 countries - but not
the U.S. - have banned imports of Brazilian beef. The disease isn't
harmful to humans.
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