Pubdate: Mon, 20 Aug 2001 Source: Associated Press (Wire) Copyright: 2001 Associated Press Author: Vanessa Arrington, Associated Press Writer COLOMBIA, BOLIVIA PRESS TRADE TIES LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) - The presidents of Bolivia and Colombia agreed Monday to press nations that are the major consumers of illicit drugs to improve trade ties with countries trying to wean themselves from the drug trade. "What we are clearly saying is that without shared responsibility by consuming countries, there is little we can do," said Colombian President Andres Pastrana, who met with his Bolivian counterpart, Jorge Quiroga, in La Paz. "We are asking that these consuming and developed nations open their doors to us and offer more possibilities for our products," he said. He was referring to the 1991 Andean Trade Preferences Act, which expires in December and is intended to strengthen legal alternatives to drug production in Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, the Andean region that produces almost all the world's cocaine and a significant share of the heroin sold on U.S. streets. The act gives duty-free status to Andean exports to the United States such as flowers, oil, minerals, coffee and bananas. Leaders of the Andean nations want the trade perks extended beyond December and their coverage expanded to other products including textiles, leather products and tuna. Pastrana, who returns to Colombia Tuesday, said his nation can learn from Bolivia's experience in eradicating coca, the base ingredient for cocaine. Under its U.S.-backed Dignity Plan, Bolivia wiped out 106,000 acres of coca in the Chapare, once one of the world's largest coca-growing areas. Quiroga, who became Bolivia's president early this month after Hugo Banzer resigned the presidency a year because of cancer, expressed support for the U.S.-sponsored Plan Colombia to halt drug trafficking. Though many in other Andean nations fear Plan Colombia will cause traffickers and guerillas to spill over Colombia's borders and into their countries, Quiroga argued that Colombia "can't be quarantined." - --- MAP posted-by: Josh