MIAMI -- U.S. trade representative Robert Zoellick said today that he formally notified Congress of the Bush administration's intent to pursue free trade agreements with Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia.
The negotiations are scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2004 with Colombia and Peru, and are expected to eventually include Ecuador and Bolivia.
A trade agreement with the four Andean countries expires in 2006, and ministers from these countries said they are looking forward to new agreements.
Zoellick said the free trade agreements will not interfere with the proposed trade area pact for the Americas being discussed this week in Miami.
He said the U.S. has always been working on two tracks because some countries want to move more quickly than others.
"We want to try to expand benefits of trade hemispherically," Zoellick said. "We also want to customize trade. It's a step-by-step process. The goal is the same."
The four countries have a population of 93 million people and a GDP of $463 billion.
As a destination for U.S., the Andean collectively represented a market of $7 billion in 2002 and the U.S. imported $9.8 billion from the region.
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