Press Release

Secretary Gutierrez Statement After Meeting with Government Officials from Colombia, Panama and Peru

Today Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez met with senior government officials from Colombia, Panama and Peru to discuss the free trade agreements at the inaugural Americas Competitiveness Forum held in Atlanta, Ga.

“We had a very productive discussion about the importance and mutual benefits to our people of free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and Peru that are awaiting congressional consideration. We hope the agreement the Administration reached with congressional leaders will pave the way for broad bipartisan support and passage of these agreements will create opportunities and higher standards of living for our people,” said Gutierrez.

“Congressional passage of the free trade agreements with Colombia, Peru and Panama will add markets representing more than 77 million people with a GDP of more than $245 billion to our free trade partnerships in the Americas. From January to April 2007, U.S. goods exports have increased to Panama over 30 percent, Colombia over 28 percent and Peru over 15 percent compared to the same period last year,” said Gutierrez. “The FTAs are strong commercial deals that will result in significant new market access for U.S. exports. I look forward to working with Congress to promote open markets, boost jobs and keep the export momentum growing.”

Background:
The Americas Competitiveness Forum (ACF) allows countries in the region to discuss how to foster competitiveness in the Western Hemisphere. The ACF will facilitate the sharing of ideas and examples of success from other countries in the region in education, innovation, supply chain strategies, workforce development and small business development growth.

The Americas Competitiveness Forum provides a venue for government ministers from the Western Hemisphere and leaders from the private sector, academia, and non-governmental organizations to explore cutting edge ideas and best practices in several key areas of competitiveness. Each day will be filled with dynamic plenary speakers and breakout sessions.

For more information about the forum, please visit http://www.ita.doc.gov/competitiveness/ACF for the agenda, please visit http://trade.gov/competitiveness/acf/acf-agenda.pdf. To see a live web cast, please visit http://www31.nortel.com/webcast.cgi?id=5688.