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."
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