19 May 2004 00:59:15 GMT

By Javier Mozzo

CARTAGENA, Colombia, May 18 (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters took to the streets across Colombia on Tuesday as the war-torn nation hosted the launch of Andean free trade negotiations with the United States.

Colombia, Peru and Ecuador -- home to 80 million, mostly poor, consumers -- jointly kicked off the talks with the world's largest economy at an inaugural ceremony on Tuesday evening in the palm-lined port city of Cartagena.

South American officials have set a February 2005 target date to finalize an accord.

"The (negotiations) we begin today seek permanent integration, opening the doors to growth, better jobs, income," said Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, a staunch U.S. ally in the war on drugs.

Public school teachers and state workers staged a one-day strike throughout Colombia, home to the world's biggest cocaine industry, to protest a feared flood of imports under a free trade accord with the United States.

"This is going to cost jobs," one protester screamed into television cameras in the oil refining town of Barrancabermeja, where hundreds of refinery workers are on strike.

Protesters in Cartagena threw rocks at riot police, who responded with tear gas, causing some minor injuries and preventing the opposition march from reaching the summit.

Demonstrations were more violent at the national university in Bogota, where students hurled Molotov cocktails and small, home-made bombs, called "papas explosivas," at police. One officer was injured, authorities said.

Colombia, locked in a four-decade-old guerrilla war, receives hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid from the United States.

EXPORT BOOM

The three Andean nations saw double-digit export growth to the United States last year -- thanks to temporary duty-free concessions meant to foster legitimate businesses on the front lines of the fight against cocaine trafficking.

The Colombian and Ecuadorean fresh-cut flower industry bloomed because of the concession, cornering about 90 percent of the U.S. rose market. Colombia sold 720 million roses to the United States last year, or more than two for every American.

"This direct access has translated into hundreds and thousands of jobs," Regina Vargo, assistant U.S. trade representative for the Americas, told the Cartagena summit.

Andean negotiators now hope to make permanent these temporary benefits, which would otherwise expire in 2006.

They also hope an accord will draw foreign investment needed to compete with other Latin American nations that are becoming U.S. free trade partners.

Chile's free trade accord with the United States, for instance, went into effect earlier this year. An accord with Central America and Caribbean countries has been negotiated and awaits difficult U.S. congressional approval.

Mexico has had access to the United States under NAFTA for a decade.

"All of the countries are in a race" to strike a trade agreement with the United States, said Colombian Trade Minister Jorge Humberto Botero.

Analysts say a U.S.-Andean accord also may push South America's top economy, Brazil, to the negotiating table. Brazil has balked at the idea of lowering tariffs on imports from the world's largest economy without U.S. farm concessions.


Source: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N18520328.htm
Link: http://www.aprnet.org/attach/WTO%20Report.pdf