One of his goals at the summit is to initiate a discussion about corporate responsibility in Latin America and how to make companies more aware of their social obligations. But he concedes that governments have not got the message across to civil-society groups that the Quebec City summit is about more than a trade deal. That's unfortunate, because the summit agenda is an ambitious one. A senior U.S. government official said he expects the summit to send a strong signal in support of democracy in the region and also to commit additional resources to hemispheric education programs and disaster relief. Health care, drug trafficking, election observing and treatment of migrant workers are also to be addressed.
Hemispheric integration is alive and well.
And it's beginning to be effective. But in spite of the evidence, the avowed aim of some protesters is to simply shut the summit down. Copyright 2001 CanWest Interactive and The Montreal Gazette Group Inc., a division of Southam Publications, a CanWest Company. The contents of this website are protected by copyright. All rights are reserved and commercial use is prohibited.