Colombia approves FTA with US
NDTV
Colombia approves FTA with US
Associated Press
Friday, June 15, 2007 (Bogota):
Colombia’s Congress on Thursday approved a free trade deal with the United States, leaving the pact’s fate in the hands of US congressional Democrats.
In a 55-3 vote, the majority pro-government Senate approved the trade deal, which would eliminate most tariffs and duties on some $14 billion in annual trade in goods and services between the two countries.
Another 44 mostly opposition lawmakers either abstained or protested the deal by refusing to be present for the vote.
"The next step is the approval by the US Congress. We know there will be delays and additional considerations, but nobody can deny the advance made by Colombia," said Trade Minister Luis Guillermo Plata.
Plata said congressional approval would facilitate the extension of unilateral trade privileges expiring this month and that have allowed flowers, coffee and other Colombian exports to enter the United States duty-free for the past decade.
The bilateral deal, which would be Washington’s biggest in the Western Hemisphere since Mexico joined the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, was signed by the White House and President Alvaro Uribe in November.
But its passage in the US Congress has been stalled over revelations that government allies and top military generals allegedly aided right-wing paramilitary groups who murdered labor leaders and civilians in a more than decade-long reign of terror.
New guidelines
Democrats last month forged new environmental and labor guidelines with U.S. President George W. Bush’s administration to speed passage of similar trade deals with Peru and Panama.
But Colombia’s poor record of protecting trade unionists, more than 800 have been killed over the past six years, and few of the killings have been solved, has earned the rebuke of many Democrats.
Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York stated last week in Bogota that until Uribe follows through on promises to stamp out impunity the trade pact was very much up in the air.
