officials of the U.S. Embassy In Colombia, they met on the morning of this Wednesday, July 13, with delegates of the president-elect, Gustavo Petro, to basically talk about peace issues. Although they also spoke of the option of revising some aspects of the FTA.
(Read: Petro and dollars: can you ‘put them up for sale’ and lower their price?).
On the Colombian side were Alfonso Prada, Luis Fernando Velasco and the designated Minister of Agriculture Cecilia López. The United States delegation was led by Ambassador (e) Francisco Palmieri.
Precisely about the meeting, Senator Luis Fernando Velasco In dialogue with EL TIEMPO, he highlighted that the members of the United States government told what the agencies of that country such as the State Department or USAID are doing on peace issues.
“It was like a kind of junction in which they told, but they also wanted to hear what the government’s vision was, to the extent that it is clear to them that the issues of peace and implementation of the agreements are key for us.“, said.
The congressman, and who sounds to be the next director of Dapre, said that he took advantage of the meeting to explain the need to “review” the mechanisms that exist within it FTA to issues such as the entry of garments into the United States.
According to Velasco, the garment manufacturers, for example, were doing better with ATPDEA than with the Free Trade Agreement.
In this sense, the congressman pointed out that US officials responded: “sit there, bring up some issues that we are willing to talk about.”
“We had a very frank talk for two hours. We spoke with all the managers who are in Colombia”Said Velasco, who reiterated that a visit from the highest level of the Biden government is being prepared in the coming days to meet with the president-elect.
Even this Wednesday’s appointment can be seen as a meeting prior to that meeting.
As a representative of the elected Government, I am accompanying the meeting with delegates from the US Government to map out a route and unite efforts around the implementation of the peace agreement. Preparatory meeting for the visit of the US Government soon. @petrogustavo pic.twitter.com/AosUKf1IK6
– Luis Fernando Velasco Chaves ? (@velascoluisf) July 13, 2022
The congressman from Cauca insisted that basically the meeting focused on receiving an explanation about what the United States government is doing in relation to the accompaniment to the implementation of peace.
The meeting was held at the facilities of the Tequendama Hotel, precisely where the joint is being advanced by part of the elected government.
(Also: The influence that a President of the Republic has in Ecopetrol).
“What I see is that the priorities of the United States government in terms of peace coincide with the priorities of the new government,” he concluded.
BRIEFCASE
