VZCZCXRO8641
PP RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHBO #0558/01 0512145
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 202145Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7189
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 8663
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 1692
RUEHGT/AMEMBASSY GUATEMALA 2949
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ 9920
RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA 7018
RUEHMU/AMEMBASSY MANAGUA 2466
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 9721
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 2582
RUEHZP/AMEMBASSY PANAMA 3044
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 7727
RUEHSJ/AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE 5327
RUEHSN/AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR 2362
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 2487
RUEHTG/AMEMBASSY TEGUCIGALPA 1905
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BOGOTA 000558 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
WHA/AND 
WHA/EPSC 
USTR FOR CARILLO AND HARMAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD ECIN KIPR CO
SUBJECT: EU-ANDEAN FTA TALKS REAWAKEN AFTER TEN-MONTH COMA 
 
REF: 08 BOGOTA 3705 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  The European Union and Colombia, Peru and 
Ecuador held their first round of free trade negotiations 
since the EU and the Andean Community abandoned the 
"bloc-to-bloc" format (which had included Bolivia) last year. 
 Colombia and EU officials characterized the round as a 
success, saying they made progress at all 13 negotiating 
tables.  The new format seeks to find a common Andean 
position, while acknowledging room for differences and 
different negotiating speeds.  After a ten-month break since 
the last round of negotiations, the negotiators showed in 
this round the urgency and alacrity that will be necessary to 
conclude negotiations in 2009.  The next round is scheduled 
for March in Lima.  END SUMMARY. 
 
NEW NEGOTIATING FORMAT: EXCLUSIVELY INCLUSIVE 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) The February 9-13 round was the fourth overall, but 
the first since the two sides abandoned the bloc-to-bloc 
negotiations between the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) 
and the EU. EU Bogota Mission Economic Chief Gonzalo Fournier 
explained that the new format for the "Multi-party Commercial 
Agreement" was open to any of the four CAN members, even 
Bolivia, which declined to participate.  Fournier stressed 
the importance the EU attaches to not being seen as having 
fractured the CAN.  The Agreement will be based on and will 
reference the 2003 CAN-EU Political Dialogue and Cooperation 
Agreement.  This will allow the EU to enforce certain broad 
human rights conditions without including such language in 
the text of the trade agreement.  Colombia is the only Andean 
country not to have ratified the 2003 Agreement and must do 
so before the FTA can enter into force, according to Fournier. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The new format is designed for joint negotiations, 
while allowing each Andean country to close negotiations on 
its own timetable.  According to Fournier, the EU does not 
view the process as three separate simultaneous bilateral 
negotiations, but rather expects the Andean countries to 
reach a common negotiating position to the extent possible in 
each of the 13 negotiating tables, with the exception of 
market access where there will be more differences among the 
three.  Luz Marina Monroy, Advisor to Chief Colombian 
Negotiator Santiago Pardo said that under the bloc-to-bloc 
scheme, "a common Andean negotiating position was a demand; 
now it is a request."  Most of our interlocutors acknowledged 
that Peru would probably finish negotiating first since it 
had fewer sensitivities, though the EU may wait until at 
least two Andean countries have finished negotiations before 
signing with any single country. 
 
EU REQUESTS ON IPR AND "FREE CIRCULATION" RAISE EYEBROWS 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Colombian press highlighted the EU's efforts to gain 
certain intellectual property rights protections that would 
go beyond those agreed to in the U.S.-CTPA, including 25-year 
pharmaceutical patents vice 20-year patents and a data 
protection period of 11 instead of five years.  Likewise, the 
EU's request that its exports to one of the Andean nations be 
afforded customs union-style "free circulation" between all 
three Andean countries would be complicated in the absence of 
a common Andean external tariff.  Monroy characterized the 
IPR efforts as a "negotiating position" and the issue of free 
circulation as "the EU being stuck in the mindset of 
bloc-to-bloc negotiations."  She added that given the 
geography and infrastructure in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, 
"EU companies would gain nothing meaningful by being able to 
 
BOGOTA 00000558  002 OF 002 
 
 
import something into Cartagena and from there transport it 
to Arequipa." 
 
EU: "WE WANT NOTHING LESS THAN THE GRINGOS GOT" 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶5. (SBU) EU officials in Bogota acknowledged that some of 
their positions the press had keyed on, such as IPR 
protections, were indeed meant to give them room to negotiate 
something away.  They added that as a general principle, the 
EU wanted nothing less than what the U.S. gained in FTA 
negotiations.  Indeed the EU's lead negotiator Rupert 
Schlegelmilch invited Emboffs to lunch on the first day of 
the negotiations to inquire about the U.S. experience in FTA 
negotiations with the Andean countries as well as to discuss 
certain trade issues of concern with Colombia, including 
labeling provisions for liquor and vehicle importation 
barriers. 
 
OPTIMISM FOR 2009 FINISH, BUT MUCH WORK REMAINS 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶6. (SBU) GOC and EU representatives were guardedly optimistic 
about the prospects for closing negotiations by the end of 
¶2009.  Both acknowledged a certain enthusiasm in the air that 
came with finally resuming negotiations after a ten-month 
hiatus, following the third and final round of bloc-to-bloc 
negotiations.  Fournier said he was surprised by the 
seriousness with which the Ecuadorian negotiating team 
approached this most recent round.  Nonetheless, this 
enthusiasm will not take the place of the detailed work 
needed to finalize the agreement.  As an example, Monroy 
characterized the European offer on bananas as "not great." 
The next round of negotiations is set for March in Lima. 
BROWNFIELD