Leaders of 34 countries from across the Americas have ended their summit in Argentina without agreeing on whether to restart talks on a hemispheric free-trade zone.

Negotiations at the Summit of the Americas continued eight hours beyond the scheduled ending on Saturday, as supporters of a U.S.-led proposal for a trade bloc stretching from Canada to Argentina tried to set a date for talks to create it next year.

But years of negotiations and two days of top-level meetings in the Argentine resort town of Mar del Plata weren't enough to persuade five key countries – Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Leaders of the Summit of Americas gather in Mar Del Plata, Argentina on Saturday. (CP Photo)
Leaders of the Summit of Americas gather in Mar Del Plata, Argentina on Saturday. (CP Photo)

The dissenters, led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, insisted on waiting for the results of World Trade Organization talks, set for December in Hong Kong.

In the end, summit participants issued a declaration that stated two opposing viewpoints, with 29 countries – including Canada, the United States and Mexico – advocating the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and the dissenters arguing it would hurt Latin American workers.

"The conditions do not exist to attain a hemispheric free-trade accord that is balanced and fair with access to markets that is free of subsidies and distorting practices," the dissenting countries say in the declaration.

Prime Minister Paul Martin, who has championed the expansion of free trade, said he wasn't ready to declare the idea dead.

"I believe that free trade of the Americas will occur. I believe that negotiations will begin next year," he told reporters after the summit ended late Saturday.

"What I cannot tell you is if it will be free trade of all the Americas, or if it will be free trade of most of the Americas. That remains to be seen."

Martin said it was obvious that a hemispheric trading zone would never draw the support of Chavez, who before the summit led a massive rally against the proposal.

"It clearly isn't going to include Venezuela.... They've made their minds up."

But Martin said he thought the other dissenting countries, such as Brazil, were merely taking a slow approach to the proposed trade zone and would eventually support it.