Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos assured business representatives of some 23 Latin American Chambers of Commerce that Colombia is “firm and constant” in its commitment to free trade, according to a Tuesday government press release.
Addressing the representatives in Cartagena, Santos advocated Colombia’s desire to be “strong and intertwined with the other economies in the region,” stating that the government is advancing every day in this process.
Santos noted how Colombia is “deepening our integration with Mexico, Peru and Chile, to establish strong trade links with the Asia-Pacific region, which we have called the Pacific Alliance. As you can see, our commitment to free trade is firm and constant.”
The head of state emphasized the progress that Colombia has made with countries or blocs of countries in other parts of the world, mentioning the pending trade deals with the European Union and the United States, as well as the various stages of negotiation with Turkey, Panama and South Korea.
“We signed a free trade agreement with the European Union that we hope will come into force, once approved by the European Parliament, next year, and also, as you well know, the United States, which we are confident will finally be approved by the U.S. Congress this year,” Santos stated.
Santos also noted Colombia’s progress in several legislative processes, such as the Health Reform Law and certain employment laws.
“Thanks to a truly historic term of the Colombian Congress, with which we have worked together in a spirit of national unity, today [there] are really important legislative initiatives that will continue reinforcing our path to development,” he concluded.
