MSG062G/01E ANDEAN PACT: Ministers To Discuss Common Foreign Tariff
QUITO, Nov 22 (IPS) - The Ministers of Trade and Integration from Andean Pact member nations will meet on Nov. 25 and 26 in Quito to discuss a common foreign tariff and a possibile trade agreement with the Southern Cone Common Market (Mercosur).
According to Ecuadorian Trade and Integration Minister Jose Vicente Maldonado, there is a "high possibility" that the five nations would reach a tariff agreement.
The Andean Pact members - Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela - already agree on the entry of 92 percent of their products into a common foreign tariff system with four rates, ranging from five to 20 percent, beginning in January.
Disagreements persist on the status of the remaining eight percent, which is made up of the most sensitive items for each country.
While a free trade zone is already in place among Andean Pact nations, the new tariff system will regulate the subregion's trade with third countries and other blocs.
However, Peru and Bolivia will not participate, as Peru will maintain its universal tariff of 10 perent, and Bolivia remains an observer to the Andean Pact.
Maldonado said the ministers' meeting this Friday and Saturday would also discuss the possibility of a trade agreement between the Andean Pact and Mercosur, which includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Such an agreement would have to be reached before Jun. 15 1995, according to regulations established by the Andean Pact's Cartagena Agreement.
If an accord is not reached by then, Maldonado said Ecuador would initiate a bilateral agreement with Mercosur because, as a small country, it must intensify its trade relations.
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