Venezuela proposes Colombia restricts agricultural imports

[naaman fletcher]

El Universal: A draft Agreement on Economic and Productive Complementarity submitted by Venezuela to Colombia and not approved by the latter included a preferential tariff to "reinforce exchange of commodities in the trade of both nations" and the implementation of antidumping measures and safeguards, in order to "protect domestic industries and markets."

The bill was delivered by Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro to his Colombian counterpart María Angela Holguín, for its review and consideration some days in advance to the meeting between Presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia, on April 9, in Cartagena de Indias.

The agreement on complementarity was meant to fill the legal gap that would be left after Venezuela's departure from the Andean Community (CAN). It was particularly aimed at ensuring trade continuity between Venezuela and Colombia, as the best performing actors of the integration process.

As set out in the bill, "tariff preferences shall apply to the charges in force at the time of imports, including those derived from the Andean Price Band System (APBS) and any other similar mechanism to be implemented, the main objective of which is stabilizing the import cost of farming products characterized by very unstable world prices, or by serious distortions thereof."

http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=101764

Look for food prices to rise (more than usual). If you restrict supply, prices will go up. economics 101.