Colombia-US FTA talks still open
Colombia-US FTA Talks Still Open
Bogota, Jun 9 2006 (Prensa Latina)— Colombian Trade Minister Jorge Humberto Botero recognized Friday that negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the US were not totally closed in February as it was said.
For the first time, after repeatedly asserting that the deal with Washington had been sealed, Botero admitted to the media that only 95 percent of the FTA was agreed.
According to the minister, in the five percentage left are the ambiguities that jeopardize the pact.
Those difficulties referred to the definition of what exactly constitutes pieces of chicken and the quotas given to the Colombian sugar producers to sell in the US.
Besides, Washington’s request is still pending for Bogota to relax the conditions to export meat and chicken to its businesspeople.
Meanwhile, Colombian experts detected inconsistencies in the text in English sent by US negotiators related to the aspects agreed at FTA talks.
However, on a first visit of a high-level delegation of the South American nation to solve those differences, US chief negotiator Mary Latimer assured the text was authentic so it had no inconsistencies.
