ENTERPRISE FOR THE AMERICAS INITIATIVE EAI

A program to boost hemispheric trade unveiled by U.S. President George H. W. Bush on June 27, 1990. The primary objectives of the program were to establish a free-trade zone stretching across North and South America, expand investment and provide debt relief for Latin American and Caribbean countries.

The EAI had three components:

1. The negotiation of a number of expected free-trade agreements, of which the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was the first.

2. A loan program and a proposed five-year US$1.5 billion multilateral investment fund to be administered by the Inter-American Development Bank.

3. A program of conditional official-debt relief, with interest payments on the reduced debt to be paid in local currency and used to finance environmental projects in Latin America and the Caribbean.