Colombia is to eliminate duties on many computer products after signing up to World Trade Organization’s Information Technology Agreement(ITA).
Colombia is the 74th country to subscribe to the agreement after “completing its negotiations and committing to a schedule of liberalization,” said a WTC statement. The organization’s Director-General Pascal Lamy said, “It represents an important step by Colombia in its policy of modernizing and further opening its economy.”
The countries which subscribe to the ITA represent 97% of the world’s trade in information technology products.
Colombia’s Trade Minister Sergio Diaz-Granados welcomed the news and added that the country will destine $5.2 billion “technological research and development during the remainder of the decade.”