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Commercial Diplomacy Workshop
Free Trade Agreements: Threats and Opportunities for Local Communities

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin's Address

Welcome to Atlanta. It is a pleasure for me to stand before this distinguished group. You are here today for an important reason, and I commend you for engaging in discussions on the impact of international trade on your local communities.

Photo: Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin
I know that as part of this meeting, you will attend the sixth round of the bilateral trade negotiations between the United States and the Andean Community of Nations. I’d like to personally thank Ambassador José Hernando Gomez of Colombia for having taken time from those trade negotiations to address us today and give us an insider’s view of the negotiation process. I have always believed in the power of trade to unite people and improve their standards of living. As you may know, Atlanta is also a candidate city to host the Free Trade Area of the Americas secretariat. We believe that the FTAA, along with CIFAL Atlanta; the Carter Center; the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change; CARE, USA; Habitat for Humanity; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Atlanta’s fine academic institutions; and a host of other organizations, are important tools that can help communities all over the hemisphere achieve their dreams.

In a report recently released by the World Bank, global growth "accelerated sharply" this year to a rate of about 4 percent, and the developing world is leading this economic surge. Developing countries are seeing their economies expand by 6.1 percent this year - an unprecedented rate - and, even without China, India and Russia, developing world growth is still around 5 percent. Even the cautious experts at the World Bank note that all developing regions are growing faster this decade than they did in the 1980s and 90s.

What drives this economic surge? According to the report, over the past decades, many nations have undertaken structural reforms to lower trade barriers, to shore up property rights and free economic activity. International trade is surging. The nations that opened to trade and investment saw the sharpest poverty declines.

Atlanta is a community that understands the importance of trade to development. It was founded as a transportation center in the 1830s, destroyed by war in the 1860s because of its strategic importance in logistics and manufacturing, and then rebuilt to become one the world’s major logistics and commercial hubs. As our history shows, Atlanta has always welcomed people and business.

But even more than that, I would like you to consider Atlanta your second home for another reason. This city has a long-standing reputation for furthering the causes of freedom, economic development, and human rights. We want you to utilize our new United Nations agency, CIFAL-Atlanta as a resource and partner to help address some our hemisphere’s most persistent problems.

CIFAL Atlanta will actively contribute to making the world a better place by focusing in three important areas:

Information technology and Telecommunications. Atlanta is an internationally recognized center for science and information technology. Training through CIFAL-Atlanta provides an opportunity for all of us to share best practices and work collaboratively within the hemisphere.

Commercial Diplomacy. Atlanta has long been a recognized leader for its role in promoting human rights, health and democracy, not only at home but abroad. CIFAL Atlanta will leverage these resources as it works with authorities from all the nations in our hemisphere to strengthen diplomacy in commercial development.

Public/Private Partnerships. It has always been a tradition in Atlanta for government and the private sector to work together for the common good. Our expertise in this area will provide strategies for local governments and businesses to work together, and cities throughout the Western Hemisphere can improve the quality of life for their people. In pursuit of this goal, CIFAL Atlanta will host hemispheric conferences on AIDS and water issues in 2005.

In closing, I hope you will enjoy your visit to Atlanta. You will find a warm and welcoming city that is famous worldwide for making strangers lifelong friends through our hospitality, through our dynamic business environment, and most importantly through our passion for making the world a better place.