    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
    [June 19, 1991]
    [Page 700]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement by Press Secretary Fitzwater on the Establishment of the
    Council on Trade and Investment
    June 19, 1991

        The United States today signed a framework agreement with Argentina,
    Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay establishing a Council on Trade and
    Investment. The President, accompanied by Brazilian President Fernando
    Collor, participated in the Rose Garden ceremony. United States Trade
    Representative Carla A. Hills signed for the United States. The other
    signatories were Argentine Foreign Minister Guido Di Tella, Brazilian
    Foreign Minister Francisco Rezek, Paraguayan Foreign Minister Alexis
    Frutos Vaesken, and Uruguayan Foreign Minister Hector Gros Espiell.
        The framework agreement is the first signed with a regional group
    since the President announced the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative
    (EAI) on June 27, 1990. The United States has signed bilateral framework
    agreements with eight other countries of this hemisphere under the EAI.
        The objectives of this Council, established by this framework
    agreement, are to monitor trade and investment relations, identify
    opportunities for expanding trade and investment through liberalization
    and other appropriate means, and negotiate implementing agreements. It
    will also seek to consult on specific trade and investment matters of
    interest to both parties and identify and work to remove impediments to
    trade and investment flows. Under the agreement, the five countries
    agreed to seek the cooperation of the private sector in matters related
    to the work of the Council.
        In his remarks during the signing ceremony, the President praised
    the accord, noting that the proposal for a multilateral agreement had
    come from the four Latin American countries. He reaffirmed that the U.S.
    goal is for a hemispheric free trade area stretching from Alaska in the
    north to Tierra del Fuego in the south, and promised that the United
    States would implement this agreement with the same spirit of
    cooperation and innovation that produced it in the first place.
        At President Collor's suggestion, the parties have agreed to refer
    to this agreement as the Rose Garden Agreement.