Bolivia, Andeans limp, LatAm grows
Bolivia, Andeans Limp, LatAm Grows
La Paz, Apr 21 2006 (Prensa Latina) — Bolivia has ruled out Friday leaving the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) but agreed the bloc has been mortally wounded by the Free Trade Agreements (FTA) of two of its partners with the US.
Vice president Alvaro Garcia and Prime Minister Juan Ramon Quintana said the government has not planned to leave CAN and will continue sharing integration possibilities while they are useful for the country.
For Garcia, although Latin American integration is the strategic solution, Bolivia will continue to use the Andean spaces.
For his part, Quintana stated the Executive recognizes that the deals and the Andean integration are seriously affected as a result of the FTA sealed by Colombia and Peru with Washington and the one Ecuador is planning to clinch.
He added those trade agreements jeopardize productive conditions of the most vulnerable states, mainly Bolivia.
The minister made the declaration after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez explained his nation will withdraw from the regional body since it has been killed by the FTA’s.
La Paz’s foreign trade was hit by a Bogota-Washington commercial accord that opened the Colombian market to US subsidized oil products, which will displace the Bolivian ones.
