EDUARDO CÁMEL ANDERSON
EL UNIVERSAL

Luis Guillermo Plata, the Colombian Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism, said in a communiqué that President Álvaro Uribe would submit four proposals to Venezuela in order to sign economic agreements, in the framework of the presidential summit that to be held Friday in Venezuela.

However, Venezuelan official sources told daily newspaper El Universal that some economic topics were left out of the final agenda proposed by Chávez delegation.

According to his agenda, Plata intends to propose an expansion of the import quotas of Colombian-made cars, taking into account that Venezuelan authorities only authorized the purchase of 15,911 units in 2008.

Venezuela is one of the major export markets for Colombian vehicles and one of the pillars for its economy.
Colombian authorities are bringing several projects in their portfolios: the signature of an Agreement for the Promotion and Protection of Investments, which was already submitted to the consideration of the Venezuelan Ministry of Light Industry and Trade, as well as the execution of an agreement to avoid double taxation (ADT).

The third project involves a bilateral agreement to allow the passage of Venezuelan and Colombian goods through the territory of the neighbor country until the final sale of the product.

Finally, the fourth initiative has to do with the signature of a bilateral agreement on transport of goods by road.
The Colombian government hopes that it will be possible to avoid in the future the imposition of physical barriers to trade. 

Nevertheless, the possibility that economic and trade topics can be excluded from the final agenda of the meeting between Uribe and Chávez, created some uneasiness and concerns in the Venezuelan productive and exporting sectors, which had high expectations of a normalization of bilateral trade between Venezuela and Colombia.

Francisco Mendoza, the President of the Venezuelan Exporters Association (AVEX) has been arguing in favor of expediting the issuance of certificates of origin by the Ministry of Light Industry and Trade. Mendoza is expecting that the topic will be dealt with during the talks between both presidents.

"Colombia has issued a special rule to extend deadlines to receive the certificates of origin in order to help Venezuelan exporters," Mendoza said.

Some time ago, certificates were issued in a 48-hour period. However, today the issuance takes more than 60 days.

Translated by Gerardo Cárdenas