MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- The Summit of Americas ended Saturday with an agreement to table the question of a hemispheric trade bloc.
Argentine Foreign Minister Rafael Bielsa told reporters after the summit ended that Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay and Brazil believed conditions were not yet right for the Free Trade Area of the Americas, Voice of America reported.
While the 33 representatives from every nation in the Americas -- except Cuba -- continued debating the topic, President George Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice left the summit in Mar del Plata, Argentina, for the next leg of their journey: the Brazilian capital, Brasilia.
Bush is scheduled to talk with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Bush and Rice are scheduled to visit Panama after they leave Brazil.
Bush came to Argentina hoping to revitalize stalled talks on the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas -- a 34-nation free-trade zone. However, several Latin American leaders spoke out against the bloc, saying that U.S. trade policy and tariffs create an unfair advantage for U.S. products.
Mar del Plata was calm Saturday following violent protests Friday, which left at least 20 demonstrators injured in confrontations with police.
