Colombia postpones signing FTA with US: official
Xinhua | 9 May 2006
Colombia postpones signing FTA with U.S.: official
BOGOTA, May 8 (Xinhua) — Colombia will postpone signing a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United State because its English version was inconsistent with the original bilateral pact, Colombian trade minister Jorge Humberto Botero said on Monday.
Botero said if the U.S. did not revise mistakes in the English version, Colombia would not sign the agreement.
The U.S. side submitted the English version of the bilateral free trade agreement to Colombia for review one week ago. But Colombia found that there was considerable discrepancy between the two versions on the items in agricultural and livestock breeding as well as services.
The two sectors, affecting market access and employment, drew wide attention and caused a heated debate between the two nations in the negotiations. The divarication on the above-mentioned issues led to a deadlock in the final negotiations earlier this year.
Colombian Agricultural Minister Andres Felipe Arias has headed a delegation to Washington for negotiations.
He told reporters that there was considerable discrepancy on market portions and tariff between the English version and Spanish version. If the mistakes were not corrected, rice, sugar and breeding industry products and labor exports in his country would be undermined.
The negotiations between Washington and Bogota began in May 2004. Both sides reached an agreement on Feb. 27 in Washington after 22-month negotiations. The agreement, made in duplicate in both English and Spanish, is expected to be signed in June 2006 and implemented in one year.
