FTAA Miami Organizers Strapped for Cash

Miami Trade Summit's Organizers Scramble for Cash.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2003 Knight-Ridder/Tribune
Business News

By Jane Bussey, The Miami Herald Knight Ridder/Tribune
Business News

Jun. 23--With just five months left before Miami is
scheduled to host the region's trade ministers for a
summit, organizers are still scrambling for the bulk
of the $12 million needed for the event.

Fundraisers have elicited about $1 million from
private-sector donors, putting them halfway toward the
goal set by Florida FTAA Inc. State government has
pledged about $1 million.

The problem is that not only did Miami-Dade County
request double that amount in state support but that
the federal government has yet to confirm that it will
agree to the county's request for $7 million to
underwrite security costs.

Concerns over local fundraising come on top of a
General Accounting Office report warning that the
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is both
understaffed and underfunded as it prepares for the
meeting of 34 trade ministers charged with making
progress on a free trade accord for the hemisphere.

"Important risks are already apparent in current U.S.
plans for hosting the November 2003 Miami ministerial
meeting," read a May 13 statement by Loren Yager,
director of International Affairs and Trade at the
GAO, the nonpartisan investigative wing of Congress.

"Intense efforts are needed to fill the remaining gaps
in the areas of expertise, planning, funding and
security," read the statement, titled "Free Trade Area
of the Americas: United States Faces Challenges as
Co-Chair of Final Negotiating Phase and Host of
November 2003 Ministerial."

Christopher A. Padilla, assistant U.S. trade
representative for intergovernmental affairs and
public liaison, said the USTR had stepped up its
organizing efforts and was confident that the funds
would be available.

He called the successful June 6 signing ceremony for
the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement in the city a sign
that organizers could pull together meetings.

"That is an indication of the level of support," he
said in a phone interview.

"I think the GAO report said it sounds like the people
in Miami are coming together well," said Chuck Cobb,
who heads Florida FTAA, a nonprofit created to help
land the headquarters for the FTAA in Miami.

Padilla said the USTR also had a 13-member staff
organizing the Nov. 21 meeting, where 34 trade
ministers are expected to discuss the progress of
negotiations for the free-trade area.

"We believe we are in very good shape on the planning
for the ministerial," he said.

Despite the county's disappointment in not receiving
all the requested state funding, officials are
optimistic about the federal funding, according to Joe
Ramallo, director of intergovernmental affairs in the
office of Mayor Alex Penelas.

The November meeting is Miami's best shot to show
Western Hemisphere leaders that South Florida would be
the best location for the headquarters of the proposed free-trade area, which would stretch from Canada to Chile.

In addition to the trade ministers' meeting, to take
place at the Hotel Inter-Continental on Friday, Nov.
21, the Americas Business Forum and the Americas Trade
and Sustainable Development Forum are scheduled to
take place at nearby locations earlier in the week.

The official participants are also expected to be
joined by protesters -- anywhere from 20,000 to
100,000 -- according to official estimates.

The GAO report underscores how organizers are still
seeking to catch up with the arrangements.

Although the selection of Miami as the location for
the trade ministers' meeting was announced by U.S.
Trade Representative Robert Zoellick in September, the
full team of Florida organizers wasn't in place until
June.

Former Ambassador Cobb was named chair of the Florida
FTAA, and Miami developer Armando Codina, a former
business partner of Gov. Jeb Bush, was selected to
serve as president of the Americas Business Forum.

Former Republican fundraiser Jorge Arrizurieta was
named executive director, and Luis Lauredo, former
ambassador to the Organization of American States,
became executive director of the group organizing the
trade ministers' meeting.

Recently, independent consultant Melissa Cloud was
added to the team -- to raise money.

"If, in fact, that federal money does not come," Cobb
said, "the three cities and the county have said they
will fund those costs but at great hardship to the
cities and county."

Leaders of the Miami host committee have been
crisscrossing the state, attending gatherings of local
business executives or chambers of commerce, to try to
drum up dollars.

Sounding like a politician on the campaign hustings,
Cobb recently spoke at a Broward County dinner
organized by the International Business Council of
South Florida.

"What a great night! What a great statement of unity!"
he said. "We need your help. We need your
participation."

The success of the meeting will also reflect the U.S. government's roll as co-chair, along with Brazil, of the negotiating process and is needed to boost morale for the flagging talks.

The GAO said poor planning and lack of funding
contributed to the failure of the last major trade
event held in the United States, the December 1999
World Trade Organization ministerial in Seattle.

Street battles over the issue of globalization further
poisoned an already contaminated atmosphere, as
ministers could not agree to launch a new round of
trade talks.

The $28 million bill for the Seattle conference was
more than three times the $9 million estimate.
Security charges came to $14 million.

The GAO report raised the issue that the USTR's staff
was stretched too thin by of an overly ambitious
agenda of trade negotiations. The USTR has only four
staff members devoted to co-chairing the FTAA
negotiations, according to the report.

While at least one staffer is expected to be loaned by
the State Department starting this month, both Canada
and Ecuador, as previous co-chairs, had eight people
devoted to co-chairing and hosting.

The report also ...uestioned the USTR's "limited
institutional experience" in planning such meetings
and the scant support it was receiving from other
federal agencies like the State Department.

Padilla, however, said the Miami organizing team was
handling what the State Department team usually did:
contract companies for the specialized services.

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