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Colombian President Alvaro Uribe praised Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli, "for his frankness, executive capability, defense of freedom and private initiative".
When speaking about the project to interconnect the power grids of Colombia and Panama, he said that "we have taken a great step, an agreement with Panama to build this interconnection. ... We expect to have the service working in 2013. It has a very important aspect: almost 70 kilometers run undersea. This will be an example for the entire region, and could be the cornerstone of a system called Caribbean Circle: an underwater line from Colombia to Dominican Republic, to Puerto Rico, Haiti, Cuba and the Gulf of Mexico, linking to the Puebla-Panamá Plan".
And when he referred to the financial and trade relations between both countries, he emphasized: ".... It has to be an integral treaty: free trade, investment promotion and security and double taxation. Should we do it this way, it could become a reference for the entire region".
Source: Presidencia de Colombia
More on this topic
June 2010
At least two or three additional negotiation rounds will be necessary to close the Free Trade Agreement between the countries.
In addition to the core topic of “what, how much and how” to remove tariffs between both countries, there will be tough discussions regarding rules of origin, labeling and customs regulations.
January 2011
Government authorities traveled to Colombia with the objective of resuming FTA negotiations.
The negotiations had been suspended back in October due to lack of consensus on issues like access to agricultural and non agricultural markets and customs procedures, among others.
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