The winning of the FTAA: the struggle to secure Miami as headquarters for the Free Trade Area of the Americas is now in full swing. Even with the backing of the state, however, it will not be an easy win—and the consequences are enormous. A look inside the campaign to win the permanent secretariat, and what it will mean

South Florida CEO, April, 2004 by Doreen Hemlock

The event itself was largely symbolic, but the sense of history was impossible to miss. Ten years earlier the elected leaders from the nations of the Americas had gathered at this same site, the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, to launch an ambitious program to knock down trade barriers in the Western Hemisphere. Now, on March 1, 2004, the team pushing Miami as headquarters of the Free Trade Area of the Americas proudly assembled to unveil their formal bid for the coveted prize.

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Team captains Charles E. "Chuck" Cobb Jr. and Jorge L. Arrizurieta, the chairman and president of Florida FTAA, Inc., exuded confidence as they prepared to debut the far-reaching package they were certain could beat rival cities. It would certainly enjoy the most spectacular--and most high-tech--launch.

In a stately amphitheater at the hotel's Americas Conference Center, they welcomed scores of consuls, executives and media, then flipped the switch for a live videoconference with their commander in chief, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. "This is a great day for Miami and for Florida," the governor said from Tallahassee, championing Miami's FTAA package. "This is vital for our long-term economic interests."

Next, the team wowed the audience with a world class audio-visual presentation on Miami--in four languages and with countless interactive features--which was hand-delivered that day to more than 100 top trade officials all 34 FTAA countries, complete with a portable DVD player on which to watch it. To top it off, the group unveiled 3-D renderings of a glass and titanium building that Miami would build at a cost of $12 million to $16 million on either of two waterfront sites, an FTAA headquarters that would stand as a "cathedral to diplomacy and trade," said architect Hilario Candela.

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Bleary-eyed marketer Bob Berkowitz stepped to the microphone and confessed. "We've been calling our company "Sleepless in Miami" for the past month. We did about a three-month job in one," said the president of Multivision Video & Film, showing off features on the DVD that his staff rushed to finish by the submission deadline.

Since at least 1998, Miami has been campaigning to be selected as the permanent headquarters of the proposed FTAA, a pact that would create the world's largest free-trade zone. The accord would cover all countries in the Western Hemisphere except Cuba, spanning more than 800 million people with an economic output topping $14 trillion a year. Winning would make the host city, in essence, the FTAA's capital. While the secretariat office would likely employ 100 to 200 full-time employees, it would bring thousands of travelers for business meetings, spawn millions of dollars in additional business and, above all, bring international prestige to the host--much as Brussels has enjoyed as the headquarters for the European Union.

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Now, with the race entering its final stretch--a site decision by trade ministers is scheduled for this summer--the competition is tougher than ever. Miami is up against 10 other cities, with Panama City, Panama considered the strongest rival and Port-of-Spain in Trinidad and Tobago a distant third. San Juan in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico joined the fray late, rounding out a list that includes Atlanta, Houston, Chicago, Galveston and Colorado Springs in the US, plus Puebla and Cancun in Mexico.

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For Bush and the Florida FTAA, Inc. team, securing the office is a top priority to strengthen the state's position as Gateway to the Americas and to further diversify the state's economy from tourism and agriculture. Losing the site could mean an erosion of South Florida's global role, shifting trade and business away from the state.

"The bigger issue is how, in a competitive world, do we expand and protect our niche," the governor said, referring to Florida's central role in US trade, investment and services with the Caribbean, Central America and South America. "We have a significant vested interest in assuring we keep this status."

To lure the FTAA headquarters, Florida has put together an unprecedented public-private partnership, with city, country, state and private groups from Miami, Broward, Jacksonville, Orlando and beyond. They've raised more than $4 million so far in cash and in-kind contributions, including ample donations from shipping giant FedEx, which hand-delivered the 12-pound DVD packages to trade officials March 1.

"We believe the FTAA will open tremendous opportunities, not only for us in Miami but for all of Latin America," said a gleeful Juan Cento, president of the Miami-based Latin American and Caribbean division of FedEx Express, during the hoopla unveiling Miami's headquarters offer.

But high-tech, cash and even an unprecedented partnership can't guarantee victory.

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When it comes to winning the FTAA headquarters, Miami has a major geopolitical handicap: It's part of the United States. The US mainland already hosts a slew of headquarters for international organizations, from the United Nations in New York to the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and OAS (the Organization of American States) in Washington, D.C., to name just a few.