INVESTMENT INTEGRATION AGREEMENT 10/03/08

Today we assisted to a conference presented by Pilar Cerón. The topic was Canada and the free trade agreement that Colombia is trying to acomplish.

Colombia is trying to be an atractive country for foreign investment since 1991, for Colombia this agreement is very important because Canada is a country with a growth economy, that provides many interesting goods for trade, also it would represent the elimination or reduction of the barriers and would help the economy to progress, the commercial exchange is growing a lot with Canada, every day are bigger and more important the exchanges that colombia make with them this can facilitate the agreement and the final step in this integration.

As a benefit, the integration with canada would help to introduce Colombia to a new markets, and economies, that could start the integration process ahd provide a significant grow.

Exist two kinds of foreign investment:

• foreign investment
• Direct foreign investment, this last one consists in investment on portfolio.

Actually, what is the situation beween Canada and Colombia free trade agreement ?

An article called Under the Umbrella of U.S. Hegemony: Canada and Colombia head towards a Trade Deal said last febrary 25th 2008 that "In June 2007, the Canadian government began controversial negotiations with Colombia with the intention of concluding a free trade agreement. The Government of Canada must answer its critics. How is it in Canada's interest, or the interests of the working people of Canada and Colombia to conclude such an agreement now? Who really benefits from such a deal? What harm will be done? As the two governments prepare to announce their agreement, it becomes clear that the answer to these questions lies in the nexus of U.S. economic/security interests and foreign policy in the Americas. To understand why Canada is about to announce this deal, we must actually focus more on Canada’s relationship with the United States, than on its new bilateral interests in Colombia, " this is a short summary of an opinion of the actual situation.

Source:http://canadianlabour.ca/index.php/Deep_Integration/1337