Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos (right) was hosted in Atlanta by Colombian Consul General Camilo de Bedout on June 13. Photo by Leigh Miller.

Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos wants Georgia businesspeople to lobby their U.S. congressmen to vote for a U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement to encourage investment in his country, he told GlobalAtlanta during a visit to Atlanta June 13.

Mr. Santos was hosted here by Colombian Consul General in Atlanta Camilo de Bedout and Colombian American Chamber of Commerce President Rafael Maldonado as part of the vice president’s three-month grassroots promotion of the agreement in various U.S. cities.

“We are pushing hard for a free trade agreement because what we have now is short-term and will not bring long-term investment,” Mr. Santos said, referring to the current Andean Trade Preference Act that gives Bolivian, Colombian, Ecuadorian and Peruvian imports duty-free entry into the United States.

“We don’t want Plan B. We want a free trade agreement that will create new foreign investment as well as capital investment from Colombian companies,” Mr. Santos said during a meeting at the law offices of McKenna, Long & Aldridge LLP.

He mentioned investment in biofuel production and infrastructure development as possible opportunities in Colombia for foreign investors.

“Write them and tell them your businesses want an agreement with Colombia,” Mr. Santos said of Georgia companies writing their congressmen in support of a free trade pact.

The U.S. and Colombian governments signed a free trade agreement in February 2006, but it must be ratified by both U.S. and Colombian legislatures.

Atlanta is an important voice in supporting the agreement, Mr. Santos said, because the city is a “base for competitiveness,” having hosted the inaugural Americas Competitiveness Forum June 11-12 that drew 1,000 political and business leaders from the hemisphere, including Colombian diplomats.

Colombia is a candidate for hosting the second annual competitiveness forum, Mr. de Bedout added.

Mr. Santos met with staff members from the office of U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Atlanta. He said that they recognized the importance of developing strategic relationships with Colombia and that opposition to the free trade agreement would send a negative message to South America.

Also while here, Mr. Santos invited Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin to visit Colombia in November to learn about trade and other opportunities for cooperation between Atlanta and the country.

Colombia’s export promotion agency, ProExport, has an office in Atlanta that facilitates business relationships between Georgia and Colombian companies, he noted.

He added that Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport receives Colombian exports of fresh flowers and other goods daily to distribute them throughout the United States. He said he will invite Colombian exporters to visit the airport to explore what services it has to offer.

Mr. Santos also said he is anticipating an open skies agreement between the U.S. and Colombia in the next five years. Such an arrangement would allow for U.S. airlines to fly to Colombia and continue on to a third country, and Colombian airlines could do the same via U.S. cities.

He said Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc. is one of the best candidates for increased access to Colombia. “We want Delta to have many more flights to Colombia,” Mr. Santos said.

More nonstop flights would be useful if a free trade agreement is reached, he said. If an agreement is not ratified by December, the Andean Trade Preference Act will be renewed, he noted.

An FTA would allow U.S. goods to enter Colombia duty-free, competing with domestic production. But Colombia’s agriculture and manufacturing sectors are in favor of a pact, Mr. Santos said, because it would bring more investment to the country, and more foreign investors would use Colombia as an export platform into the rest of South America.

“This is not a zero sum game. Investment will lead to permanent growth, and you don’t get that with only preferences,” he said, referring to the ATPA.

Mr. Santos said that free trade supporters and Colombian Ambassador Carolina Barco in Washington have “changed the negative momentum” surrounding the discussion of an agreement, but more lobbying is necessary. “We still have to work on U.S. Congress. Like all free trade agreements, it’s an uphill battle,” he said.