The delay in the ratification of a free trade agreement between the United States and Colombia is standing in the way of job creation in the U.S., Colombia’s ambassador to Washington said Thursday.
According to Ambassador Gabriel Silva, Colombia “doesn’t ask, but proposes” an FTA, which “would benefit our complementary economies.” The ambassador stressed that Colombia’s oil production has doubled, which could help the U.S. to “diversify its supply sources.”
The ambassador spoke with journalists whie attending the National Foreign Trade Council, a business organization focused on global trade.
Silva repeated that Colombia will not “obsess” about the approval of the FTA, and even proposed the pact should be “evaluated from a new perspective” as “the context has changed.”
While “Colombia has moved forward,” U.S. agricultural exports to the Andean nation dropped “48% in 2008 and 22% in 2010,” said Silva.
“We cannot keep waiting. Meanwhile, we have signed free trade pacts with Japan, South Korea, Mexico and [South American trade block] Mercosur.
Colombia and the U.S. signed the FTA in 2006, but U.S. Congress has refused to vote on the pact amid concerns over the human rights situation in the South American country.