Sixteen North Americn senators sent a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama asserting that their nation’s leader set a date for congress to ratify the stalled free trade agreement with Colombia, reports AFP.
The republican senators said that the agreement, along with similar pacts with South Korea and Panama, would be “a catalyst for significant economic growth and job creation in the United States.”
The letter requested a “specific timeline for the enactment of these FTAs” and asked that the three countries involved be given a “well-defined and finite list” of things needed to be done to have the agreements signed.
The U.S. Ambassador to Colombia, William Brownfield said that the FTA would produce more jobs, trade, investments and economic activity, adding that the pact was “not a favor, nor an act of charity.” but represented the “interests of each country.”
The United Nations last week urged Colombia to protect its vulnerable populations from the impact of the country’s free trade agreements and the ongoing war on drugs.
The committee recommended that Colombia “considers revising the intellectual property provisions of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States in order to guarantee protection against a rise in the price of medicines, particularly for those with low incomes.”