Uribe heads to US to salvage free trade negotiations
Financial Times, London, 14 February 2006
Uribe heads to US to salvage free trade negotiations
By Andy Webb-Vidal in Caracas
Alvaro Uribe, Colombia’s president, is expected to roll up his shirt sleeves in Washington on Wednesday on a high-stakes mission to personally salvage stalled but crucial free trade negotiations with the US.
Mr Uribe, who has a reputation for micro-management, is eager to reach an agreement to improve access for Colombia’s exports and to avoid being left behind as other countries in the region strike trade deals with Washington.
Peru signed a free trade deal with the US in December, while a pact between Central America, the Dominican Republic and the US was approved last year. Bogotá’s warm relations with the Bush administration, which views the Uribe government as its leading Latin American ally in the arena of security and anti-narcotics co-operation, have not paved the way for smooth negotiations.
Talks that began in 2004 stalled at the end of last year amid rising opposition from Colombian farmers who fear a flood of US subsidised agricultural goods would jeopardise jobs. Agreement is important because existing US trade preferences to steer farmers away from illegal drugs crops expire at the end of the year, and their renewal in Congress is not guaranteed.
Andrés Pastrana, Colombia’s ambassador to the US, said Mr Uribe’s priority would be to seek an agricultural agreement that would prevent a reversal of hard-won successes in the war on drugs.
“What we don’t want is peasant groups to return to the drugs trade,’’ said Mr Pastrana. “A free trade deal must not kill alternative development.’’
Mr Uribe last week described the need for a free trade agreement as a “national priority’’. Bilateral commerce was worth $13bn in 2004 and figures due next week are expected to show a further increase last year.
But Mr Uribe’s decision to engage in the fine detail of the negotiations at the office of the US Trade Representative is politically risky, analysts said.
In May, Mr Uribe will be the first incumbent president in a century to be allowed to run for an immediate second term, an election he is expected to win thanks to improvements in security during his first term. Cabinet members have urged Mr Uribe not to directly participate in talks until after the election to prevent a potentially negative outcome tainting his campaign.
However, Fernando Cepeda, a political analyst in Bogotá, said Mr Uribe’s unconventional style could work in his favour.
‘’Whatever happens, he’s going to be criticised by his opponents,’’ he said. ‘’But even if a deal is not struck, it could reinforce the view that Uribe is a man willing to engage, even if his own prestige is at stake.’’
