US embassy cable - 05BOGOTA2367

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BOGOTA 002367 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT PLS PASS USTR AMB JOHNSON, RVARGO, BHARMAN, MLATIMER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/11/2015 
TAGS: ETRD, ECON, EAGR, ECPS, EINV, KIPR, CO, FTA 
SUBJECT: COLOMBIAN TRADE MINISTER DISCUSSES NEXT STEPS IN 
FTA 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William B. Wood, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1.  (C) Summary.  During a March 9 meeting with the 
Ambassador, Trade Minister Botero and FTA chief negotiator 
Gomez emphasized the GOC's need to close FTA negotiations by 
June and the commitment of the Colombian negotiating team to 
do so.  Botero and Gomez also expressed their desire to 
advance the process during March 14-21 meetings in 
Washington.  Botero and Gomez underscored the need for 
greater engagement on agricultural issues in order to ensure 
public acceptance of an FTA in Colombia.  They also 
highlighted the political urgency in closing the 
telecommunications chapter and pressures from the indigenous 
population for greater consideration of biodiversity. Both 
expressed concern that problems in resolving outstanding 
trade disputes in Peru and Ecuador not slow down the process 
and Botero promised to push for further action by Quito and 
Lima.  Botero and Gomez's presentations made it clear that 
while the GOC sees the urgency of closing in June, it does 
not feel this is possible without positive results that will 
help cement private sector support for the process. End 
Summary. 
 
2.  (U)  On March 9, Trade Minister Jorge Humberto Botero 
hosted a meeting with the Ambassador to discuss the upcoming 
FTA talks in Washington.  Botero was accompanied by 
newly-named Trade Vice Minister Eduardo Munoz, chief FTA 
negotiator Hernando Jose Gomez and deputy chief negotiator 
Juan Carlos Botero.  The Ambassador was accompanied by the 
DCM and ECONCOUNS. 
 
3.  (C)  Minister Botero began by going over the main points 
of his recent Washington visit and reiterated that the GOC 
needed to finish negotiations in June to allow for 
Congressional review this year.  Delaying consideration in 
the Colombian Congress past 2006 would put the FTA in the 
middle of the Congressional and Presidential election cycles. 
 At best, this would delay consideration until after the new 
Congress and President assumed power in August 2006.  At 
worst it could lead to Congress voting down the agreement. 
Botero made clear that the timing of the negotiations had now 
become a crucial issue and the GOC would do everything in its 
power to allow negotiations to conclude in June.  Botero 
added that the GOC was concerned that any delay by Peru and 
Ecuador in resolving outstanding trade disputes could hold up 
U.S. Congressional review until these disputes were resolved. 
 Botero then stated that Colombia was willing to go it alone, 
but promised to call the trade ministers of Peru and Ecuador 
to push them on resolving the disputes. 
 
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KEY GOC CONCERNS 
---------------- 
 
4.  (C)  Chief negotiator Gomez then went over the key 
concerns at several tables: 
 
a) Telecommunications 
 
The GOC still hopes to get some of the obligations for fixed 
line operators applied to cellular operators.  The GOC really 
wants three provisions applied: (a) interconnection rights; 
(b) safeguard and prohibition of crossed subsidies; (c) 
obligation of resale.  While they will request others at the 
table (such as number portability and dialing parity) the 
three mentioned are the key items the GOC requests.  Gomez 
also said that the GOC seeks some type of notification by FCC 
that there are only three authorized Colombian providers of 
long distance ) even a mention somewhere in the FCC website 
would suffice.  Botero added that the telecommunications 
issue had an important political dynamic.  Bogota and 
Medellin, Colombia's two largest cities, had two of the three 
largest telecommunications companies in Colombia. In Bogota, 
the opposition mayor was using the issue to generate 
opposition to the FTA.  Thus, if we could close the chapter 
and provide the areas of coverage that those companies sought 
for cellular operators, we would be able to disarm 
potentially powerful opposition. 
 
b) Agriculture 
 
Botero made it clear that the GOC needs positive movement on 
the zero for zero offer in the agricultural bilateral meeting 
March 21-22.  He was specifically interested in the inclusion 
of fruits and vegetables in the offer, but did not mention 
what the GOC was willing to offer in exchange for this. 
Botero added that agriculture has an important constituency 
in the Congress and that it would be impossible to gain 
acceptance for the agreement without a balanced agreement 
that would provide increased access for both sides.  Botero 
maintained that without progress in Washington he would be 
unable to maintain support from key agricultural 
constituencies.  He mentioned key areas where he felt we 
could work on a mutually beneficial solution: 
 
i.    Coffee ) the GOC seeks that the US consider the 
geographical denomination &Coffee from Colombia8 ) which 
was recently granted by the Colombian Superintendency of 
Commerce.  Botero offered that the GOC would be willing to 
consider some type of protection of Puerto Rican producers 
(who asked for an exclusion from accepting Colombian coffee) 
in exchange for this.  Such a deal would allow the powerful 
coffee federation to support the agreement, which means 
support from Congressional leaders in the coffee growing 
regions. 
 
ii.   Beef/dairy ) the GOC seeks a dairy deal as the US and 
Colombia both have complementary offensive interests.  Botero 
also asked that the US approve regions in Colombia as HMD 
free rather than the whole country (we explained that such a 
request is currently before USDA).  These two items would 
gain the political support of the national cattleman's 
association and would ensure Congressional support from 
cattle growing states. 
 
iii.  Real market access - Botero raised the need for &real 
market access8 for agricultural goods - Colombian code for 
flexibility on SPS.  Botero and Gomez argued that the USG 
also had interests where an Australia-FTA like SPS commission 
would be beneficial, namely BSE and avian flu.  They added 
that they understood that much of the real access required 
considerable investment from the GOC, such as access for 
fresh beef and strengthening the Colombian Government,s 
technical capabilities to allow for equivalency in technical 
findings, but that the commission and acceptance of 
equivalency (once proven) would give the GOC the political 
cover to make the necessary changes and win support. 
 
iv.   Sensitive products - Gomez stated that the GOC had four 
very sensitive agricultural products: beans, rice, corn, and 
chicken leg quarters where they sought special relief and 
felt that we had &to think out of the box,8 meaning 
consideration of other mechanisms such as long term TRQ,s, 
special TRQ's, and mechanisms that would allow Colombia to 
counter any negative effects of lingering subsidies. They 
raised rice in particular, where US subsidies allow the 
export price to be below production costs in Colombia while 
the production costs in the US were higher.  They also 
mentioned that in sugar, any access for alcohol or products 
containing sugar would help them offset the demands of the 
sugar sector. 
 
v.    More time ) the GOC is convinced that we need more 
time to discuss agricultural issues but we can settle 
everything but the most sensitive issues while CAFTA is under 
consideration. 
 
c) Intellectual Property 
 
According to Botero, the Andean Trade Ministers are trying to 
quell a rebellion from the Health Ministers to limit data 
protection.  Botero thinks the effort has been successful, 
but it can resurface at any minute.  Botero and Gomez both 
stated that Colombia could accept an IP chapter with 
commitments similar to those in CAFTA and the Chile FTA, but 
they were concerned that Peru,s reluctance to join the data 
exclusivity offer would hinder movement.  They asked the USG 
to work with Colombia and Ecuador and not wait for Peru to 
join the offer.  They also stated that it was imperative for 
the USG to answer the offer made to establish a negotiating 
dynamic. 
 
d) Biodiversity 
 
Botero came to the meeting after filming a TV show to counter 
increasing attacks from indigenous groups (a poll announced 
this week showed that 98 percent of indigenous groups in the 
Valle del Cauca region were against the FTA and that they 
felt they had been ignored).  Botero used this to reiterate 
the need for inclusion of language on biodiversity in the 
US-Andean FTA ) language that would recognize the rights of 
governments and their commitment to protect genetic resources 
and traditional knowledge.  Both Botero and Gomez underscored 
that they were not looking for a back door for the 
biodiversity convention, but they needed mention of 
biodiversity for political reasons. 
 
e) Used Goods 
 
Botero and Gomez highlighted this was a contentious issue, 
and felt that the GOC could grant access to remanufactured 
and reconditioned equipment, but not used clothing.  They 
were concerned, however, that they still did not have a good 
idea of the scope of the USG,s desire to include these 
goods.  They asked for greater clarity. 
 
---------------------- 
The GOC feels the heat 
---------------------- 
 
5.  (C) After seven rounds of negotiations, the GOC is 
feeling the heat and, because of the electoral calendar, a 
genuine sense of urgency.  While there has been success in 
industrial market access, where the offer on the table now 
betters access under ATPDEA, no chapters have closed, and the 
private sector is growing restless.  Hence the GOC's 
insistence on coming away from next week's talks with 
something to show.  The political realities and pressures 
expressed by the minister are very real as is the GOC's 
recognition that it needs to move forward quickly in order to 
meet the goal of closing negotiations in June or July at the 
latest.  What remains to be seen is how that sense of urgency 
will translate into action at the negotiating table. 
Ambassador shared that reciprocal movement must begin on the 
Colombian side.  We believe they are ready. 
WOOD