The United States Congress launched a “Colombia Caucus” on Wednesday aimed at dealing with important issues for US-Colombian relations, reports Portofolio.
The group, which will be led by Democrats Gregory Meeks (New York), Henry Cuellar (Texas), and Republicans Mario Díaz-Balart (Florida), and Aaron Schock (Illinois), will deal with issues such as the pending free trade agreement and the fight against narco-trafficking.
“From working on strengthening our economic ties, to the fight against drug trafficking, the United States and Colombia have built a substantial and successful strategic alliance for many years … The creation of this caucus is another symbol of friendship between our two countries, and will play an important role in the discussion of bilateral initiatives,” announced Colombia’s Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez who attended the caucus’ launch on Wednesday night in Washington D.C.
The launching of the caucus comes after U.S. Secretary of State President Hillary Clinton announced on Wednesday that domestic political issues within the U.S. are to blame for the failure of the U.S. to pass the agreement, which was originally signed in 2006 under then President George Bush.