President Bush, center, announces a Western Hemisphere trade initiative on September 24, 2008.

Washington — A trade initiative meeting in Panama on December 10 aims to widen talks among Western Hemisphere nations that are open to expanded trade and globalization during a time of nearly global economic uncertainty, senior U.S. officials say.

The meeting comes as the United States and most economies face a mounting downturn in their economies. Many of the discussions at the meeting are expected to be devoted to the global financial crisis and broader economic challenges, the officials said.

The Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas Initiative was announced by President Bush during the opening of the U.N. General Assembly September 24. The 12 initiative nations will meet December 10 in Panama, and the U.S. delegation will be lead by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the State Department said December 8.

“We’ve concluded over 10 free trade agreements in the region” in the past eight years, Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon said. “When you combine that with our NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement] partners, we have 12 free trade partners that stretch from Canada to the tip of Chile.”

Such an initiative can lead to a broader America-Asia free trade area, which reaches from the Western Hemisphere across the Pacific to the economies of Asia, he said at a briefing at the Washington Foreign Press Center on December 8.

Shannon, who is assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, said the United States at this meeting is reaching beyond its free trade partners and has invited a variety of regional organizations, development banks and significant trading partners, such as Uruguay and Brazil.

“We believe that as we look forward, beyond this ministerial, that we have created a forum in which countries committed to trade and recognizing the role that trade plays, in economic and social development, economic growth and strengthening ties between countries, will be able to discuss the broader aspects of our economic and social development agendas and the important role that trade plays,” Shannon said.

At its core, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Sullivan said at the briefing, the meeting will strengthen economic cooperation and integration initiatives, and promote the convergence of free trade efforts.

One of the meeting’s goals is to build on the G20 leaders’ summit in Washington on November 15 that was looking for ways to stem the global financial crisis, said Sullivan, who is assistant secretary of state for economic, energy and business affairs.

“A lot of other organizations … have adopted what the G20 leaders have done,” and that might be part of discussion in Panama, Sullivan said.

The trading partners believe in free trade, support free trade and understand how open markets and trade contribute to economic and social development, Sullivan said. This meeting will be as inclusive as possible, he said, to unite the region around an important economic tool.

Sullivan said he and Shannon had been in discussions with the transition team of President-elect Barack Obama about the Pathways initiative and its importance to Western Hemisphere economic affairs.