Clinton's talks to focus on trade, drugs

SANTIAGO, Chile -- After a two-day state visit, President Clinton will join
33 other leaders at a summit launching formal talks to establish a
free-trade area involving every nation in the Americas except Cuba.

Clinton arrived here this morning for meetings with President Eduardo Frei
and a speech Friday before a joint session of Congress in the port city of
Valparaiso.

Frei said there is no fixed agenda for his discussions with Clinton because
"relations between our countries are good enough as to allow us to discuss
any subjects."

Trade between Chile and the United States, which boomed to nearly $7 billion
in 1997, has been affected by several disputes that are expected to be
discussed by Frei and Clinton. They include dumping accusations against
Chilean salmon producers and others related to Chile's sales of grapes and
wood products.

Economy Minister Alvaro Garcia said Chile and the United States might soon
sign an accord establishing a mechanism to settle their trade differences,
but it wasn't known whether the accord would be ready for Clinton's visit.

What is sure to be signed by the presidents, Frei said, is an agreement for
cooperation in education, including an exchange of teachers and students.

Over the weekend, Frei will be host for the second Summit of the Americas
where talks will focus on trade, drugs, democracy and education.

Trade is expected to be the dominant topic, including Clinton's failure to
get fast-track negotiating authorization from Congress. That stopped talks
for Chile's entry into NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Accord made up
of Canada, Mexico and the United States.

In the first Summit of the Americas in 1994 in Miami, the three NAFTA
partners invited Chile to join. But Frei has refused to negotiate unless
Clinton gets fast-track authorization, which would ensure Congress would
either approve or reject, but not amend, trade accords signed with foreign
nations.

This week, Frei called the lack of fast track "an internal problem of the
United States. Not our problem."

He said that "we in Latin America will continue to advance" toward a
regional free-trade area and that the presidents attending the summit would
agree to open formal talks by June.

In Washington, Commerce Secretary William Daley said the lack of fast-track
authority from Congress does not preclude progress toward forming the free
trade area.

Security throughout the city for Clinton and the summit appears tight,
although clearly not perfect: Erika Rae Rose, a State Department protocol
official, was robbed of her bag with some $3,000 while lunching at a
restaurant in the fashionable Las Condes neighborhood.

Clinton's audience Friday in Congress may include former dictator Gen.
Augusto Pinochet, who, at 82, is now a senator-for-life.