A.

A 11: EVIDENCE 3: ASSAY “FREE TRADE AGREEMENT (FTA):

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES”
FILE 1667873

GAES #7 Juan Camilo Jimenez Varela

Sandra Mabel Puchana García

Introduction
The Free Trade Agreements are part of the internationalization policy of the
Colombian economy and are focused on achieving greater growth and
economic development through a preferential and permanent relationship
with a fundamental actor in the global economy, in order to generate new
opportunities for employment, improve the quality of life of the population,
increase their welfare and contribute to the development of the country.

Developing
The FTA creates a long-term regulatory framework, thus promoting national
and foreign investment in Colombia. The FTA is a permanent instrument
that unlike the ATPDEA does not require periodic renewals and therefore
provides stability and predictability in the rules of the game of trade in goods
and services between Colombia and the United States in this case.

When the negotiation of the FTA with the United States was concluded,
multiple studies were prepared in which the agreement's positive impact on
economic growth, increased exports, and the generation of qualified and
unqualified employment was demonstrated. More than four years later,
Colombia is a more competitive country, substantially more open to the
world, with a productive sector that has matured and that today has better
conditions to attract productive investment and conquer foreign markets.

The United States is the main destination for Colombian exports, with 42%
participation. In 2010, despite enjoying the Andean tariff preferences,
Colombian exporters of goods paid more than US $ 9 million for import
duties to the United States. After the expiration of the ATPDEA, that figure
could rise to about US $ 125 million. The FTA guarantees a total and
permanent elimination of all Colombian merchandise exported to that
country.

In addition, the agricultural sector will benefit from greater access to the US
market, not only by the permanent elimination of tariffs but also by the
establishment of clear rules of the game in sanitary and phytosanitary
matters to support real access for our agricultural and agroindustrial
production. USA He promised to give timely attention to Colombian
requests, to take into account technical evaluations made in our country and
to provide technical cooperation to put our systems at the level required to
have real access to their market.

This is one of the products with the greatest offensive potential in Colombia
and the most protection in the USA. The FTA will significantly increase the
Colombian export quota This quota includes some industrial products with
sugar content that are part of the productive transformation program.

The entire service sector will benefit from clear rules of the game for
investment and trade. It should be noted in a special way that the FTA
creates a working group for professional services within the FTA provides a
permanent framework for professional bodies in Colombia and the United
States to perform work on mutual recognition and development of licensing
standards. Although the FTA has identified the engineering and architecture
sectors as priorities, other sectors such as health and consulting services
will be able to use this framework in the future to promote agreements in
these areas.

Conclusion
The Free Trade Agreement implies a new relationship with the United
States: we move from a unilateral scenario to a stable and permanent
relationship. From now on, our exporters will be able to project the
businesses in the long term and generate more employment for Colombia.
According to projections made by the National Planning Department, the
impact of eliminating tariffs will allow the Colombian economy to grow 0.48
additional points and decrease two points in unemployment.