Saturday, November 12, 2011

Fourth round for FTA with Turkey begins in Ankara

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With the discussion of the three tables, the fourth will start negotiating the free trade agreement between Colombia and Turkey. This meeting will be held in Ankara, Turkey.


  • Technical teams of both countries meet from November 1st to the 4th
  • In parallel, second round advances for an investment agreement.

The meeting, which will last until November 4th, is expected to advance the discussion of the chapters on market access, rules of origin, and sanitary and phytosanitary standards, according to Minister of Trade, Industry, and Tourism, Sergio Diaz-Granados.
The technical teams of the two countries will start the discussion with the exchange of improved offers in agriculture, which will be presented before the round begins.
Colombia's chief negotiator, Javier Gamboa, explained that the previous rounds have completed 10 chapters of the 13 chapters that will be part of the agreement. These include customs, technical barriers to trade, trade protection, intellectual property, competition, general provisions, dispute resolution, trade, and sustainable development, exceptions, and final provisions.
Parallel to the FTA negotiations, there will also be the second meet of negotiations for an agreement on the promotion and reciprocal protection of foreign investment, between Colombia and Turkey.

BILATERAL TRADE

Exports to Turkey for the period of January 2011 to August 2011 reached US$ 365.3 million, which represents an increase of 195%, over the same period in 2010, which registered US$ 214.6 million. This increase in exports went, primarily, to exports of coal and, to a lesser extent, polymer polypropylene.

As for imports from Turkey for the same period mentioned above, they reached US$ 79.3 million, which represented an increase of 151%, over the same period in 2010, which registered US$ 31.5 million. The imported products consisted, mainly, of bars and rods of steel, cotton textiles, and automobiles.

(RCF)
OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

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