Senate Bill sb3100

    Florida Senate - 2004        (NP)                      SM 3100

    By Senator Garcia





    40-2347A-04

  1                     Senate Memorial No. ____

  2         A memorial to the United States Congress,

  3         urging support for Florida's bid to become the

  4         permanent location for the Secretariat for the

  5         Free Trade Area of the Americas; urging the

  6         United States Congress to support activities

  7         promoting safe commerce and secure trade lanes

  8         between the United States and its trading

  9         partners in the Caribbean, Central America, and

10         South America.

11  

12         WHEREAS, negotiations are progressing on development of

13  the Free Trade Area of the Americas, which will unite the

14  economies of the Western Hemisphere by creating a single free

15  trade agreement among 800 million consumers with a combined

16  gross domestic product of $14 trillion, and

17         WHEREAS, Florida is competing to become the permanent

18  location for the Secretariat for the Free Trade Area of the

19  Americas, which, together with the trade and investment

20  activity under the agreement, would create new jobs and

21  revenues for the state and local governments, and

22         WHEREAS, total merchandise trade between Florida and

23  the Western Hemisphere exceeds $45 billion dollars annually

24  and represents more than 65 percent of Florida's total

25  merchandise trade, and

26         WHEREAS, the State of Florida recognizes the critical

27  economic contribution of the state's agriculture industry and

28  supports efforts to ensure that the interests of the

29  agriculture industry are incorporated into trade negotiations

30  and agreements, and

31  

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    Florida Senate - 2004        (NP)                      SM 3100
    40-2347A-04




 1         WHEREAS, the purpose of free trade agreements like the

 2  Free Trade Area of the Americas is to ease impediments to the

 3  flow of international commerce and further stimulate

 4  North-South trade and investment flows in the Western

 5  Hemisphere, and

 6         WHEREAS, the terrorist events of September 11, 2001,

 7  have led to the development of new security requirements on

 8  vessels, seaports, and the state's trading partners, and

 9         WHEREAS, the United States Bureau of Customs and Border

10  Protection has created the Container Security Initiative to

11  extend the United States' zone of security outward in North

12  America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, but has not extended this

13  zone of security outward to the Caribbean, Central America, or

14  South America, and

15         WHEREAS, the United States Congress has financed the

16  development of Operation Safe Commerce in New York, New

17  Jersey, California, and Washington to develop a secure global

18  supply chain between seaports in those states and their

19  international trading partners in Asia, Europe, and Africa,

20  and

21         WHEREAS, the State of Florida recognizes that enhancing

22  the security capacity of seaports in the Western Hemisphere,

23  without creating an unfair advantage for our trading partners'

24  goods versus Florida goods, will enhance the development of

25  North-South trade and investment flows, and

26         WHEREAS, the economy of the State of Florida will

27  benefit immeasurably from the liberalization of safe and

28  secure cross-border trade in goods and services, and

29         WHEREAS, hosting the Secretariat for the Free Trade

30  Area of the Americas, together with increased safe and secure

31  international trade and investment activity stemming from the

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    Florida Senate - 2004        (NP)                      SM 3100
    40-2347A-04




 1  trade agreement, will solidify Florida's role as the "Gateway

 2  to the Americas," NOW, THEREFORE,

 3  

 4  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

 5  

 6         That the State of Florida urges the United States

 7  Congress to continue to support Florida's bid to become the

 8  permanent location for the Secretariat for the Free Trade Area

 9  of the Americas.

10         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the State of Florida urges

11  the United States Congress to support and fund the Americas

12  Operation Safe Commerce program between seaports in the

13  Caribbean, Central America, South America, and the United

14  States.

15         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Americas Operation Safe

16  Commerce program would establish a collaborative effort

17  between the United States government, international trading

18  partners, the State of Florida, the maritime industry, and

19  other business interests to develop and share best practices

20  for the safe, secure, and expeditious movement of goods

21  between the Caribbean, Central America, South America, and the

22  United States.

23         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be

24  dispatched to the President of the United States, to the

25  President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the

26  United States House of Representatives, and to each member of

27  the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.

28  

29  

30  

31  

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