Weekly Report - 27 September 2005

ANDEAN REGION-US | Ecuador may postpone signing FTA. As the 12th round of negotiations on the US-Andean free trade agreement got under way last week in Cartagena, Colombia there were strong indications that Ecuador might not be ready to finalise the deal by next spring - and this, according to the Ecuadorean trade ministry, would mean postponing the signing until 2007. Such an outcome could leave Ecuador in limbo, as on 31 December the existing agreement on trade preferences, ATPDEA, runs out. The ATPDEA grants 5,600 Andean products duty-free access to the US, a concession meant as an enticement for the beneficiaries to cooperate with US antidrugs policy.

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