MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uribe lobbies before US Congress for approval of trade pact

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe urged US Congress on Friday to quickly approve a bilateral free-trade agreement that remains stalled in the Democrat controlled House of Representatives since last April.

"The sooner we get approval, the sooner we are going to get much more investment in Colombia" Uribe said in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington on the first of a two-day personal lobbying visit to try to promote the deal. "Growing investment is the best alternative to illegal drugs, and never forget, illegal drugs are the nutrition of terrorists in our country" emphasized Uribe referring to Colombia's decades-old guerrilla insurgency. Uribe also revealed he had spoken by telephone on Thursday with Democratic presidential candidate Barak Obama who has been opposed to the Colombia pact. "It was a constructive telephone conversation" Uribe said, adding that it would not be prudent for him to say whether Obama said he would be open to a vote on the pact this year. Like many Democrats, the Illinois senator has insisted Colombia must do more to reduce murders and other violence against trade unionists before Congress votes on the accord. On the contrary Republican candidate John McCain visited Colombia in July in a show of support for the free-trade agreement and for Uribe, a staunch U.S. ally. The deal was signed in November 2006, over the protests of many Democrats who just a few weeks before had won an election that would give them control of the House and the Senate. President George Bush submitted the agreement to Congress in April, but House Representatives chair Nancy Pelosi responded by pushing through a vote to indefinitely delay action on the pact. However, Colombia still hopes Congress will approve the agreement in a possible "lame duck" session after the November 4 congressional and presidential elections. Pelosi has said Congress can only vote on the agreement after it passes a second economic stimulus package and legislation to reform and expand a federal assistance program for workers who have lost their jobs because of import competition or factories moving overseas. No meeting with Pelosi has been scheduled for President Uribe who this Friday met with the three US contractors who were rescued in July by Colombian soldiers along with French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt held in captivity for years by the cocaine funded rebel group FARC. The Colombian president will meet with Bush at the White House on Saturday, giving the two leaders another chance to urge congressional action.