The governments of Colombia and Israel announced last week, at the VIII Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Geneva (Switzerland), the decision to begin negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement.
Colombia's Minister of Trade, Industry, and Tourism, Sergio Diaz-Granados made the announcement in the presence of Israel's Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor, Shalom Simhon
Diaz-Granados announced that the process will cover issues such as trade in goods, services, investment, trade facilitations. He noted that "We hope the agreement, in addition to increasing trade and investment flows, boost bilateral economic cooperation, removal of tariff barriers and promote diplomatic relations between both countries,".
In explaining the reasons why Colombia is interested in a Trade Agreement with Israel, the Minister said that although Israel is a country of just 22,145 square kilometers (an area 51 times smaller than that of Colombia), it has a high foreign trade level and economic structure of a highly developed country, where the industry accounts for about 32% and services 66%. The minister noted that trade and investment ties between Colombia and Israel are strong and of growing importance. However, Colombian exports are concentrated in commodities (97.7% of the value in 2010), of which 93.7% was coal. The remaining coffee and its derivatives, emeralds and flowers, add 4%.
Between January and September 2011, bilateral trade reached a record close to USD 557.4 million. Coal accounted for 94.3% of export value during that period and 78.7% of the total value of bilateral trade.
