If US doesn’t sign FTA, Colombia is not going to cry: Garzon

Colombia Reports | Friday, 21 January 2011

If US doesn’t sign FTA, Colombia is not going to cry: Garzon

Adriaan Alsema

Colombian Vice President Angelino Garzon said Thursday that if the U.S. congress decides not to ratify a free trade agreement (FTA) with Colombia, the country’s government will not "sit down and cry."

"Next week I will travel to Washington to ask Congress to approve the FTA, but I will send the message that we, as a State, are trying to sign treaties with most countries on equal footing. If a country does not want to sign it we are not going to sit down and cry," the VP told French press agency AFP in an interview.

"Put simply, if business can not be done with one country, you do it with another. For example, in the last three years, United States agricultural producers have not been able to export $800 million worth of cereal and corn to Colombia. Not because Colombia has not been buying. On the contrary, we have bought a higher amount, but from Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Argentina and Canada," Garzon added.

"With a free trade agreement, both countries, their governments and their people win," said the VP.

Garzon will travel to Washington to meet with Congressmen and members of President Obama’s administration, such as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden, among others.

source : Colombia Reports

Printed from: https://www.bilaterals.org/./?if-us-doesn-t-sign-fta-colombia-is