Cocoa can provide new and innovative
solutions to consumers' demand for 'live
longer' and 'look younger' food and non-
food products, and can be used to develop
a whole new value added industry. It is
opportunities such as these that provide
the basis for some new fresh thinking at
fora such as the Summit of the Americas...

AgriView is published every trimester by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) with financing from the Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation (CTA)

The focus is on countries and agricul- ture in the Americas as the fifth hemi- spheric platform for dialogue - the Summit of the Americas - takes place in Trinidad and Tobago in April. A point to be underscored is that regardless of size, resource endowments, stage of development and trade and economic relations, agriculture is of strategic eco- nomic importance to the development of these 34 countries of the Americas. The main political, trade and economic rela- tionships and a snapshot of agriculture in the Southern Americas are also high- lighted to underscore the commonality of development issues in the Americas. However, agriculture\u2019s importance is not so evident in the agendas and emerging

declarations of the previous four Summits. The feature on the Agro-matrix, a frame- work which promotes a more holistic and broad-based approach to development, provides a backdrop for the process of positioning agriculture and rural life issues on the Summit agenda. Stakeholders must play an active role in defining the agendas, focusing the dialogue, ensuring consensus and implementing the resulting decisions. The Summit process does not belong to the Heads of State and Governments, it belongs to the people of the Americas, especially the most vulnerable, poor and marginalised, on whose behalf the Summit is conducted, decisions are made and re- sources mobilised.

Also inside are opinions that emphasise the need to keep agricultural development on the front-burner of the Summit process, briefs on actions taken to coordinate agricultural policy in the regions of the Americas, and an indication of how agriculture contributes to the sustainable development goal, using the cocoa industry as an example.

The development process does not end after a Summit concludes. How it continues and what impact it makes beyond the months-long preparations and the two or three days of meetings is also up to all of us! Be informed, get empowered, stay involved and demand accountability. For agriculture, the process continues in Jamaica in October with the Ministerial Meeting.

much interest as the Caribbean prepared to host the Fifth Summit of the Americas in April 2009.While all CARICOM countries are part of

the Americas, our knowledge of our neighbours on the continent, apart from Belize, Guyana and Suriname, is limited.

Although \u2018the Americas\u2019 comprises sev- eral other countries, politically, it usually refers to the 34 of the 35 independent and democrati- cally-elected countries, stretching from Alaska in the North to Argentina in the South, excluding Cuba. They are sub-divided into four geographical regions \u2013 North America, Central America, South America and the Lesser and Greater Antilles that make up of the chain of islands on the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea. Their combined population accounts for 15% of the world total.

history of cooperation for economic and social development. Per- haps the most well recognised symbol of such cooperation is the Organisation of American States (OAS) founded on 30th April 1948 in Bogot\u00e1, Colombia, among 21 countries. Since then, the OAS has expanded to include the nations of the Caribbean, as well as Canada.

The Summit of the Americas (SoA) has become another well known symbol and process of inter-American cooperation. The earliest Presidential Summit was held in July 1956, among leaders of 19 countries at Pan- ama City, Panama to promote development and peaceful relations in the Americas. That meeting helped to lay the groundwork for the creation of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), another symbol of cooperation in \u2018the Americas\u2019.

After a twenty-seven year hiatus, the Sum- mit process was re-activated in Miami in 1994 among Governments of the Americas to dis- cuss common issues and seek solutions to common economic, social or political prob- lems. Cuba was still excluded. One of the most important initiatives to emerge from the Miami

Summit was the agreement to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Work towards the FTAA dominated the Summit agenda until it lost momentum at the fourth summit, in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in 2005. Since then, countries have engaged in bi-lateral or bloc-to-bloc negotiations.

Coordinating Agriculture Policy in the Americas
The future of Agriculture has never looked Rosier
Opinions and Perspectives on Positioning Agriculture Recent
Publications
The Dialogue continues, for Agriculture, in Jamaica

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organisation, was established by a 1960 treaty between Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador, Costa Rica (joined in 1963), Belize and Panama (observer status in some areas).

Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, to develop regional industries in the context of a common market. Chile subsequently left the Pact and Venezuela joined.

14 English-speaking Caribbean states under the 1973 Treaty of Cha- guaramas establishing the Caribbean Community, after the break-up of the West Indies Federation (1958-62) and the dissolution of 1968 Caribbean Free-Trade Agreement. Full members are Antigua & Bar- buda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kits & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago; Associate members are Anguilla, British Virgin Islands and Turks & Caicos. Aruba, Bermuda, Cayman Island, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico and Venezuela have observer status. The Bahamas is a member of the community but not the common market.

a Latin American trade integration association, based in Montevideo, Uruguay, established in 1980 to establish a common market to pursue the economic and social development of the region.

to include Mexico in 1994. On signing, it became the world\u2019s largest regional free trade area and the world\u2019s first economic integration of its kind between two industrialised high-income economies and a semi- industrialised economy (Mexico).

1991 to establish a common market and a common trade policy for third countries. Mercosur has five member countries, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela. Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are associate members.

ment between Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela that came into effect on January 1, 1995, to liberalise trade and foster investment, services, government purchases, regulations to fight unfair competition and in- tellectual property rights in the extended market of 149 million consum- ers.

cember 14, 2004. Bolivia joined in April, 2006 and Dominica, the only English-speaking and only CARICOM country, joined in January 2008. It is presented as the alternative to the US-led FTAA.

United States-Dominican Republic-Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua) \u2013 came into effect when Costa Rica approved the DR-CAFTA in October 2007.

In addition to these integration blocs, countries of \u2018the Americas\u2019 also have trade and economic relationships with each other, such as the CARICOM-Canada agreement (CARIBCan), the US-Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), and the CARICOM-Venezuela agreement. Some countries are also members of more than one bloc, such as Belize in both CARICOM and the CACM, Dominica in both CARICOM and ALBA and Venezuela in both Mercosur and ALBA.

Asymmetry within the Americas is very evident. Of the 34 countries, two have dominated economically -the US and Canada. They are also the two main donors within the hemisphere. Canada is currently the largest bilateral donor in the Commonwealth Carib- bean and the second largest in Haiti. Among the Latin American countries, three are described as emerging economic powers \u2013 Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina. Also Chile has been the fastest growing economy in Latin America over the last 15 years and is regarded as a model of economic stability. Reports are that the period 2002 to 2008 represented the best economic performance for Latin America in 40 years. Rapid GDP growth, driven in part, by trade and investment, was accompanied by a drop in poverty, improved income distribu- tion in some countries and job creation. The rest of countries of the Americas represent a mix of medium-sized and a number of small economies, such as, in CARICOM.

Agriculture has been of historic importance to all countries of the Americas, individually and as integrating units. The impor- tance that the US and Canada place on their agriculture is well evident in the extent of domestic support and subsidies provided to their farm and agribusiness sectors. The US\u2019s reluctance to substantially reduce its supports and subsidies was a major factor in the failure of the FTAA negotiations. Brazil has emerged as an agricultural superpower in global food and agricultural markets as a result of its economic and trade stability and regulatory reforms that encouraged investment in agriculture. Investment is a key pillar of the Summit agenda and the various integration blocs.

Despite the differences in development philosophy, resource endowments, stage of economic development, the Summit of the Americas is the only hemispheric platform that provides equal opportunity and representation for heads of state and governments of the 34 countries to define and agree on an Inter-American development agenda built on common goals, coordinated policies, commitment and partnerships, including commitment to improve the situation for agriculture.