Colombian Minister for Trade Sergio Díaz-Granados signed today in Brussels an ambitious and comprehensive Trade Agreement together with EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, Danish Ambassador Jonas Bering Liisberg representing the Presidency of the Council of the EU and the Peruvian Minister for Foreign Trade José Luis Silva Martinot.
Once fully implemented, the Agreement will eliminate tariffs in all industrial and fisheries products, increase market access for agricultural products, improve access to public procurement, services and investment markets, further reduce technical barriers to trade, and establish common disciplines including on intellectual property rights, transparency and competition.
The official text of the Agreement was initialled between the European Commission, Colombia and Peru on April 2011, since then has been translated into 21 languages and verified.
This signature allows for formal ratification procedures to kick off in the EU as well as in Colombia and Peru. The European Parliament (EP) will be the first to act by voting on consent this year while Member States' Parliaments are expected to adopt the text at a later stage. In the meantime, the Trade Agreement will be provisionally applied between the parties - provided EP consent is granted and ratification procedures are also concluded in Colombia and Peru.
(Source: EU Commission Press Office)
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