[R-G] Canada, Colombia sign free-trade agreement

[Anthony Fenton]

Canada, Colombia sign free-trade agreement

   http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081121.wapecharper1121/BNStory/National/home

STEVE RENNIE

The Canadian Press

November 21, 2008 at 10:47 PM EST

LIMA, Peru — A Canada-Colombia free-trade agreement was announced  
Friday shortly after Prime Minister Stephen Harper arrived in Peru for  
this weekend's Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit.

Mr. Harper approved the deal Friday evening after he landed in Lima,  
the Peruvian capital. Under provisions in the federal Accountability  
Act, the deal must now be debated by Parliament before it becomes  
legislation — likely by January 2010.

The prime minister is in Peru to join 20 other regional leaders at the  
APEC summit expected to be dominated by talks on how to get ahead of  
the financial crisis that has shaken global financial markets.

Before leaving Canada, Harper suggested free trade could be an  
antidote to the financial crisis. As if to underscore the point, his  
government announced the free-trade deal with Colombia shortly after  
Harper's plane landed in Lima for the summit.

“It's also important right now for the wider reason of the global  
economic crisis that we find ourselves in for all of us to send  
signals across the globe that we are committed to free trade and open  
doors,” Harper said.

“Obviously, protectionism is a danger at all times, but it is an acute  
danger at a time like this.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said the deal “builds greater trust  
among investors.”

A senior Canadian government official involved in the negotiations  
said preliminary discussions with Colombia began in 2002 and blossomed  
into full-fledged talks last year after the prime minister visited the  
South American country.

The agreement lifts tariffs on 98 per cent of Canada's exports to  
Colombia, including wheat, barley, lentils, peas, beef, paper products  
and machinery and equipment.

Canada and Colombia will also urge their domestic professional bodies  
to recognize each other's certifications, particularly in engineering.

In 2007, two-way trade between Canada and Colombia totalled more than  
$1.1 billion. Canadian exports to Colombia make up $630 million of the  
total.

The official, who spoke to reporters on Harper's aircraft on the  
condition of anonymity, said the biggest sticking point in the talks  
was access to agricultural markets.

As with other Canadian free-trade agreements, the deal prohibits  
Colombia from exporting to Canada supply chain management products  
such as eggs, poultry and dairy products.

“As always with all trade agreements, (the most difficult part) has to  
do with agricultural market access,” the official said.

“With Colombia, we have interests in areas where we don't ship now,  
such as beef and pork, so those were the areas that were most  
difficult.”

“Most of our agriculture exports now are in the grains area ... and we  
received immediate duty-free treatment for those, as well as an  
elimination of price bans, which is a major achievement into the  
Andean markets.”

A ban on Canadian beef following an outbreak of mad cow disease  
prevents Canada from shipping beef to Colombia. However, the official  
said the free-trade agreement includes provisions to expedite the  
lifting of the beef ban.

The free-trade agreement comes after Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence  
Cannon and International Trade Minister Stockwell Day signed three  
other deals with Colombia this week.

One deal spells out human rights provisions that must be follow by  
both countries, failing which the offending country will have to pay  
into a fund aimed at strengthening human rights.

Colombia has a dubious human rights record. It has been alleged the  
government is linked to violent paramilitary squads, and there have  
been a number of murders and kidnappings of union leaders and  
journalists over the years.

Harper said the free trade deal contains provisions aimed at  
guaranteeing human rights are respected in Colombia.

“This agreement has been designed to address some of these  
criticisms,” Harper said.

“In terms of the critics, I think their concerns have been answered.”

Harper is scheduled to speak Saturday morning to an audience of  
business leaders.

After the speech, Harper and the other APEC leaders will meet for two  
hours at a retreat at Peru's Ministry of Defence Convention Centre.

The leaders will later meet with the APEC Business Advisory Council  
ahead of a group dinner Saturday night.

Senior Canadian government officials have said that the APEC leaders  
are expected to follow up on last week's G20 meetings in Washington,  
hosted by U.S. President George W. Bush.

Bush hopes to win more converts at the Lima summit for an action plan  
aimed at showing governments have the will and the means to halt the  
turmoil.

Bush and eight of the other leaders at the Lima meetings were also in  
Washington last weekend when the Group of 20 — consisting of the  
world's richest countries including Canada, as well as emerging powers  
such as China, Russia and Brazil — adopted the package of measures  
aimed at keeping the current crisis from pushing the global economy  
into a deep and prolonged recession.

Bush is hoping that the APEC countries will promise, as the G20  
nations did, not to raise new economic barriers to trade over the next  
year, hoping to avoid the beggar-thy-neighbour policies that helped  
turn the 1930s downturn into the Great Depression.

The APEC leaders were also expected to endorse a new commitment to  
wrap up the broad outlines of an agreement on the current round of  
global trade talks, known as the Doha Round, by the end of December.

In their free-trade deal, Canada and Colombia agreed their laws must  
adhere to principles set out by the International Labour Organization,  
which include the right to free association and collective bargaining,  
abolishing child labour, health and safety measures and minimum wages  
and overtime pay.

If Canada or Colombia violates the labour organization's principles,  
they will have to pay into a fund aimed at strengthening workers'  
rights.

The two countries also agreed not to sacrifice environmental  
protection in order to boost trade and investment. And a third deal  
eliminates double taxation for people and companies from one country  
that do business or make money in the other.

Harper has called for countries to ease trade restrictions in response  
to the global financial crisis. The prime minister has cautioned  
against repeating past policy mistakes, such as trade protectionism,  
which contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930s.

- With files from The Associated Press.