Colombia is a model for economic and political growth and the approval of a U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement remains a priority for the administration of Barack Obama, U.S.Commerce Secretary Gary Locke wrote Colombia’s vice president.
In the letter, written on December 7 last year, Locke writes “Colombia has demonstrated outstanding economic growth in recent years, and the Department of Commerce continues to encourage U.S. companies to take full advantage of doing business in such a dynamic climate.”
“Colombia has established itself as a model of economic and political growth and change in the region,” the commerce secretary added.
In the letter, Locke reassures Colombian Vice President Angelino Garzon “that the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement remains a priority for the Obama administration.”
According to the U.S. commerce secretary, Garzon “will make a strong case on this before Congress and U.S. Government officials during your trip to Washington in January.”
Garzon will travel to Washington on January 22 to lobby the ratification of the FTA by the U.S. Congress.
The U.S.-Colombia FTA was signed by the countries’ governments in 2006, but under pressure of U.S. labor unions was never ratified by Congress because of the labor and human rights situation in the Andean nation.