Baucus: Trade agreement will help Colombian economy

Free trade agreements will help Colombia's economy continue to stabilize, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said Thursday. 

Baucus is spending the week in Brazil and Colombia meeting with government officials to determine how to move forward on a long-stalled trade agreement between the United States and Colombia. 

The Obama administration is accelerating its efforts to wrap up work on deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama. The Korean agreement is expected to reach Congress for ratification in early March, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said recently. 

"Colombia’s groundbreaking demobilization efforts have significantly reduced violence throughout the country," Baucus said. "By restoring greater peace and security, Colombia is reviving its economy, helping it become one of the most dynamic in the hemisphere and tripling its international trade."

The renewal of the Andean Trade Preference Act and approval of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement "will help provide new resources and opportunities to give former combatants alternatives to violence and help Colombia’s effort to increase peace and stability.”

Baucus met Thursday with leaders from one of Colombia’s Reintegration Centers for Demobilized Persons, including Alejandro Eder, the top Colombian official running Colombia’s efforts to reintegrate former combatants into society. He also met with several reintegrated ex-combatants to learn about the program and their experiences. Since 2002, 45,000 ex-combatants have demobilized in Colombia, homicides have decreased more than 50 percent, kidnappings have declined 93 percent and terrorist attacks have fallen 70 percent, according to figures provided by the Senate Finance Committee. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has supported Colombia’s reintegration program since 2003. The Bogota Reintegration Service Center Elder runs is part of a country-wide network of 29 reintegration centers that provide ex-combatants and their families with access to healthcare services, formal education, vocational training, income-generation opportunities and counseling services.