Joint Andean action proposed in dealing with the United States on tariff preferences

Medellín, Jan. 26, 2001. The Director General of the Andean Community (CAN) Secretariat, Víctor Rico, underscored the need for the subregion’s countries to join forces in dealing with the United States to renew the Andean Tariff Preferences Act (ATPA), extend its benefits to textile products and garments, and incorporate Venezuela.

Rico put forward this proposal at the Summit of Andean Textile Entrepreneurs being held in Medellín (Colombia) to discuss inter alia, the future of the ATPA, the Act approved by the United States as part of its war on drugs, which allows most exports from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru to enter the country duty-free.

Colombian businessman Carlos Manuel Echevarría, President of Cristal-Vestimundo, expressed his agreement with Rico by pointing out that "the Andean countries should negotiate jointly, and not individually, the broadening and renewal of the ATPA," which will expire in December of this year. He went on to propose that the governments and the businessmen work in coordination to further these efforts with the Congress and Administration of the United States.

Rico reported that the CAN General Secretariat has drawn up a strategy for joint action on the ATPA that will be examined by subregional experts at a meeting scheduled to take place at the Andean Community headquarters in Lima, on February 8 and 9, and which will then be discussed with the Andean Ministers.

The ATPA currently applies a zero tariff to some 6,300 tariff headings for products exported by Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru to the United States. However, over 1,500 other tariff headings are excluded, among them important textile products and garments.

The CAN Director General also pointed up the favorable results obtained by the Andean countries with regard to textiles and garments in the Economic Complementarity Agreements signed with Argentina and Brazil and referred to the progress being made in the negotiations underway to achieve a Free Trade Agreement between the CAN and Mercosur by January 2002.