Uribe: Free-trade deal to be fair
Daily Journal, Venezuela
Uribe: Free-trade deal to be fair
28 November 2005
BOGOTA (EFE) - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe pledged that the free-trade agreement that his government is negotiating with the United States will be fair, although not ideal.
“We have to pursue (the talks) without arrogance - looking for options, but with a determination to reach a deal that is fair,” Uribe said during a community council meeting that he led in Concordia, a town in northwestern Colombia.
The president said his government was committed to signing a free-trade accord with the United States, which this week engaged in a 13th round of talks with Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
These latest negotiations, however, ended in failure, with large disagreements remaining in areas such as agriculture and intellectual property rights. Still, Uribe continued to insist on the necessity of a free-trade deal, noting that an agreement would serve to boost national productivity and create more jobs. But the accord must take into account “national interests,” said Uribe, who mentioned the need to protect Colombian rice and corn producers.
Uribe said Colombia would continue to insist on a proposal whereby, in the case of corn, “the national harvest is absorbed at a fair price and the rest is imported duty-free.” Rice growers also can trust Colombia’s commitment to negotiate a trade deal that is fair, said Uribe, who also guaranteed that his administration would fight during negotiations in favor of other “hypersensitive” sectors.
