WASHINGTON - The Bush administration indicated Thursday that some progress had been made in narrowing differences that had stalled talks aimed at creating a Western Hemisphere free trade zone.
The hopeful assessment came after two days of discussions between the co-chairs of the negotiations, Acting U.S. Trade Representative Peter Allgeier and Brazilian negotiator Adhemar Bahadian.
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The two officials said they plan to meet again on March 29-30. Mills said both sides hoped enough progress would be made at the March meeting to schedule a meeting of deputy trade negotiators from all 34 countries involved in the discussions in late April or early May.
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The effort to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas, which would involve every country in the Western Hemisphere except Cuba, has been stalled for months with Brazil and the United States remaining far apart on a number of issues including U.S. protections for American farmers and Brazil's laws covering the protection of intellectual property rights.
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