| Trade Agreements with Peru, Colombia and Panama are a Foreign Policy Imperative | The trade agreements with Peru, Colombia, and Panama are an imperative for America's foreign policy and national interest. At a time of sometimes unsettling change in Latin America, these agreements promote U.S. security interests, enhance geostrategic partnerships, and ensure the continued success in the fight against narcotics trafficking.
Forging a deeper partnership with Peru, Colombia, and Panama is vital to enhancing cooperation on a variety of issues vital to the U.S. national interest, including the fight against terrorism and narcotics trafficking.
- Colombia has been disarming both left-wing and right-wing armed groups and peace talks are underway with the ELN, (one of Colombia’s main guerrilla groups), thanks to the successful outcome of Plan Colombia and the Colombian government's domestic policies. The trade agreements will further enhance opportunities for economic growth and development in Peru and Colombia, providing citizens with long-term alternatives to narcotics trafficking or illegal emigration and ensure the continued successes of the demilitarization process.
- Shipping through the Panama Canal accounts for 5% of world trade, and 70% of canal traffic is coming from or heading to the United States. As good friends and partners, the trade agreement will help Americans and Panamanians get even more benefits from these longstanding ties.
- U.S. companies have invested $1 billion in Peru's natural gas sector and plan to invest an additional $2 billion in the next few years. Much of the sector is oriented toward shipping liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the North American market. With natural gas prices at record highs in the United States, Peru is attractive as a reliable and secure source of this environmentally benign fuel.
The consolidation of partnerships with Peru, Colombia, and Panama and the development of growing economies in Latin America are clearly in the national interest of the United States.
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|  | |  | | Did you know?
| | | Colombia's Congress has begun consideration of the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement. Last week, the committees of jurisdiction in Colombia's House of Deputies and Senate approved the agreement on 11-3 and 8-2 votes, respectively. The full Senate and House are expected to consider the agreement within a few weeks.
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| | | | Overheard
| | | ''The trade agreement between the United States and Peru is vital for our country...The United States, ever since its founding fathers, has had an ideal, a mission to the world. In the '40s, it sacrificed the lives of many young people to achieve the freedom of the world. Nowadays, we need to focus on democracy and free trade. And I am sure that both Republicans and Democrats would understand that this is key to the mission the United States has for the world.''
--Peruvian President Alan Garcia during his visit to Washington, April 23, 2007
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