Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos anounced in New York Wednesday his confidence that the free trade agreement between Colombia and the United States will be ratified by the end of the month.
The president said “despite the polarization in the United States Congress at the present time, what has happened in the last few days leads me to believe that this trade agreement is finally going to be passed.”
Barack Obama is also optimistic, saying that they already have enoungh votes in congress for the free trade agreement to finally be ratified.
Santos says that the free trade agreement is indicativetive of a new and influential role for Colombia in the international arena. “This is an incredibly important step in our foreign policy and our trade policy… before I was not making bets, but now I can bet that the free trade agreement will be approved by the end of the month.”
The U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement, signed by former President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe and former President of the United States George Bush, has been stagnant since 2006 following concerns about violence against labour rights activists in Colombia.