January 16, 2004

The Special Summit of the Americas

The Special Summit of the Americas, which took place in Monterrey, Mexico this week (January 12-13) was proposed by the Government of Canada as a way to prepare for the official Fourth Summit of the America’s in Argentina in 2005. The Summit of America brought together 34 freely elected political leaders from the Western Hemisphere to discuss and debate their common political, social and economic problems in an open forum. President Bush attended and was accompanied by Secretary of State Colin Powell.

According to Secretary Powell, the Monterrey Summit, “will help small businessman, farmers and working families”. In his op-ed piece on January 12th in the Dallas Morning News, the Secretary also stated, “our aim is to make the free-market system work fairly for all the region’s citizens”. This issue along with President Bush’s recent announcement of Immigration Reform and a guest worker program was discussed on January 12th in a joint news conference.

President Bush described his immigration program as one in which “All participants in the program will be issued a temporary worker card that will allow them to travel back and forth between their home and United States without fear of being denied reentry into our country”. The President went on to explain specific components of the proposal such as financial incentives, for example, tax-preferred savings accounts, to allow workers to collect monies paid into U.S. deferred savings accounts and social security as they return home.

The President’s proposal has sparked debate amongst leaders on Capitol Hill. Others including Immigrant Advocacy Groups say at least it is a step down a long, complicated path. We at GT view the President’s proposal as a very positive move in the right direction. There is a delicate balance between security interests and necessary immigration reform which must be reached. As co-chair of the EWIC coalition, GT Shareholder Laura Reiff will be intimately involved in working on the details with Congress.