Colombia’s Trade Minister lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organization regarding Argentina’s expropriation of a Spanish multinational company, Colombian media reported Wednesday.
Sergio Diaz-Granados said “We do not expropriate,” referring to the decision of Cristina Fernandez, the Argentine president, to take the Spanish multinational oil company YPF into Argentinian ownership.
On Monday Fernandez obtained parliamentary approval allowing the expropriation of 51% of the shares of YPF, owned by Madrid-based Repsol.
He also invited Spanish investors to look at the labor market and potential which many Colombian cities offer.
A U.S. State Department spokesmen said the plan to nationalize the oil company was a “negative development.”
According to Reuters YPF has been under pressure by the Fernandez administration to up its oil production.