• by IPS Correspondents (quito)
• Wednesday, November 16, 1994
• Inter Press Service

QUITO, Nov 16 (IPS) - Members of the business communities of Ecuador and Colombia held a three-day meeting, which conlcuded Wednesday, to evaluate the progress of bilateral trade and encourage new exchanges.

More than 300 trade authorities and members of the business communities of both countries met in the Eucadorean port of Guayaquil - 320 kilometres from Quito - to strengthen ties, identify obstacles to trade and set new goals.

Since Ecuador and Colombia liberalised their trade in October 1992 as part of the Andean Pact integration process, exchange has increased considerably between the South American neighbours.

Business analysts in both countries project that by the end of this year, bilateral trade will approach 650 million dollars, 250 million more than in 1993 and 490.8 million more than in 1992.

According to Ecuador's Vice-Minister of Industry and Trade, Nelson Guim, the Guayaquil meeting made important strides toward "agile trade" as participants sought mechanisms to overcome chronic cargo transport problems in the border areas.

"There must be more political decisions. In transport, for example, there are norms that can not be applied because they would affect certain interests," said Jorge Ramirez, President of the National Association of Colombian Exporters.

Ecuador and Colombia, together with Bolivia, Peru and Venezuela, make up the Andean Pact, an integration group that has implemented a free trade zone and hopes to establish a customs union in the coming year.

Late next week, the ministers of Trade and Integration of the subregion will meet in Quito to try to define the common foreign tariffs to be applied as of next year.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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