Colombia

“Trade Policy Reviews” analyse the trade policies and practices of each member of the WTO. The reviews consist of three parts: an independent report by the WTO Secretariat, a report by the government, and the concluding remarks by the Chair of the WTO’s Trade Policy Review Body. The opening section - “key trade facts” - provides a visual overview of the WTO member’s major exports/imports, main export destinations, origins for its imports and other key data. This edition looks into the trade practices of Colombia.

In November 2006, on the occasion of the third Trade Policy Review of Colombia, WTO Members were informed of the rationale and objectives of Colombia’s Democratic Security Policy, designed to enhance physical safety and improve investor confidence in order to stimulate economic growth and reduce poverty.

This fourth Trade Policy Review has offered a very useful opportunity for Members to deepen their understanding of the trade policies and practices of Jamaica, and to collectively appreciate the challenges it faces in sustaining and improving its economic prosperity. I would like to thank the Jamaican delegation, led by Her Excellency Mrs. Kamina Johnson Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, the discussant Ambassador Högni S. Kristjánsson of Iceland, and to the 31 delegations that took the floor for their valuable contributions.

The Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM) was first established on a trial basis by the GATT CONTRACTING PARTIES in April 1989. The Mechanism became a permanent feature of the World Trade Organization under the Marrakesh Agreement which established the WTO in January 1995.

Since the last Trade Policy Review conducted in 2006, Colombia has continued steering its trade policy towards greater openness, setting its sights on closer integration with Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as with the rest of the world, through the negotiation of preferential agreements to increase external trade and foreign investment flows. To this end, Colombia has participated in various negotiations to consolidate existing bilateral and regional agreements, and has signed and continues actively negotiating new agreements with the aim of ensuring preferential access to strategic markets. This does not detract from the particular importance that Colombia attaches to participation in the WTO as part of its trade policy strategy. Colombia therefore places great emphasis on maintaining an open trade regime in the framework of a transparent multilateral system complemented by regional and bilateral efforts.

The increasing proliferation of bilateral, regional, and multilateral trade agreements has put new twists and brought new questions to the fore in the old debate on the effects of these agreements (either separately or together) on the concerned economies, as well as on world trade as a whole. By July 2007 nearly 380 preferential trade agreements had been notified to the WTO, and it is estimated that over 400 PTAs will be in force by 2010. Earlier the chief concern had been whether regional or bilateral agreements were building blocks or stumbling blocks toward multilateralism; this became an issue, empirically for a while, centering on how the two types of agreements had to exist “side by side,” for better or for worse (Fisch, 2001). As one Colombian negotiator put it: “The WTO is not a place of liberalization, but consolidation”. The concern is now revisited in the context of a possible breakdown or slowing down of the multilateral order itself, and the increasing pressure on small economies to meet the demands of the great powers in bilateral free trade agreements in defecting from both regional and multilateral trade arrangements. This chapter attends to the latter set of concerns in speaking of the GATS+-type arrangements becoming de rigueur in bilateral agreements. In doing so, however, it also showcases trade as an increasingly complex set of arrangements between local, national, regional, and international dynamics.

I commend the Vice Minister and the Disccusant to make very pertinent remarks this morning and many issues which Members had, have been touched on briefly but comprehensively. Chairing the meeting for the fourth Trade Policy Review of Colombia was personally a rewarding experience. The Trade Policy Review of Colombia has provided an opportunity for us to improve our understanding of recent developments in Colombia’s trade and trade related policies. I would like to thank Vice Minister Duque of Colombia, Ambassador Eduardo Muñoz and the rest of the delegation of Colombia for their constructive engagement in this meeting. My thanks also go to Ambassador Tim Yeend for his excellent participation as discussant, and to the Members for their numerous interventions. I would further like to commend the authorities of Colombia for the effort made to answer the questions received prior to this meeting.

The seventh Trade Policy Review of Malaysia has offered us a good opportunity to deepen our understanding of its trade and investment policies. I would like to thank the Malaysian delegation, led by H.E. J. Jayasiri, Secretary General of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, for its constructive engagement throughout this Review. I would also like to thank the discussant, H.E. Ambassador Claudio de la Puente of Peru for his insightful remarks, and all the delegations that took the floor for their valuable contributions. The 476 questions submitted by 27 Members, and the interventions by 43 delegations underline the importance attached to Malaysia’s trade and investment policies and practices. Malaysia’s use of the alternative timeframe to reply to advance written questions to this TPR was also appreciated.