The participation of parliamentarians in trade negotiations.

• Author: Bissonnet, Michel
• Position: A Winning Strategy for the People of the Americas

Now more than ever international trade agreement negotiations and more specifically negotiations leading to the creation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas require the participation and input of parliamentarians. This article looks at how the Parliamentary Confederation of the Americas is working toward enabling all parliamentarians on the American continents to work in concert on the process of hemispheric integration.

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The Parliamentary Confederation of the Americas (COPA) was created in response to the first Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Americas, held in Miami in 1994, during which the project of creating a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) for 2005 and rebuilding inter-American cooperation on a new foundation was first introduced.

The prospect of establishing the FTAA and carrying out the Summit action plans initiated an integration process with economic, political, social, environmental and cultural ramifications, and one that directly concerns parliamentarians in their role as legislators and representatives of the people.

COPA was officially founded in September 1997 when 400 parliamentarians from 28 countries of the Americas convened in Quebec. Among their number were several representatives from the two houses of the Parliament of Canada, as well as from the provinces and two of the territories. Parliamentarians agreed on the need to create a representative, independent and pluralistic forum in which they could express their points of view and discuss available means of action to face the new hemispheric realities. COPA has since held four other General Assemblies and set up permanent thematic working committees and the Network of Women Parliamentarians of the Americas.

In order to give a voice to all the parliamentarians of the Americas, COPA, like the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the Assemblee Parlementaire de la Francophonie, brings together parliaments from unitary, federal and federated States. COPA also allows the participation of regional parliaments such as the Andean Parliament, and interparliamentary organizations of the Americas such as the National Conference of State Legislatures of the United States.

The Significance of the FTAA for Parliamentarians

Parliamentarians must definitely become more involved in the FTAA negotiation process. Parliamentarians' association with the economic integration process gives it increased transparency and legitimacy, thus mitigating the...