Peru may have to choose between US and Andean trade pacts

Peru may have to choose between US and Andean trade pacts
Posted on Wed, May. 21, 2008Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
Associated Press

LIMA, Peru -- Peru may be forced to choose between a trade pact with the United States and one with its neighbors, a senior official says.

A deal with the United States, approved by the U.S. Congress last year, can't take effect until Peru tightens intellectual property laws.

But Andean Community rules require Peru to get permission from other members to modify such laws -- and the leftist governments of Bolivia and Ecuador have rejected Peru's request to do so, Eduardo Ferreyros, vice-minister of foreign trade, said late Tuesday on Canal N television.

Bolivia and Ecuador voted down Peru's petition during a recent meeting of Andean Community trade officials, decision Ferreyros called political. The other member of the Community, Colombia, is awaiting approval of its own trade deal with its ally Washington.

''I hope they don't put us in a position where we have to choose between the Andean pact and moving forward'' with the U.S. deal, Ferreyros said.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/541966.html



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