Peru concludes trade agreement with U.S.

Peru concluded a free trade agreement with the United States Wednesday while the chances of a wider agreement with other Andean countries dwindled as talks stalled. The governments of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru had been negotiating with the U.S. since last year in order to reach an agreement to replace the trade preferences granted to them under the Andean Trade Preference Act, which expires at the end of 2006. After 14 rounds of talks earlier this month and despite several key concessions Ecuador was unable to sign a full agreement. Negotiations with Colombia stalled over the liberalization of the agricultural sector, the Financial Times reported.

The Andean Trade Preference Act was passed by the U.S. Congress with the stated purpose of helping Andean countries deal with the negative affects of the drug trade by allowing them to trade other goods with the U.S. under favorable conditions. It was initially passed in 1991 and then expanded in 2002 as the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act, giving duty-free access to U.S. markets for about 5,600 products, according to the website of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

“This [free trade agreement] will strengthen Peru’s development prospects and its ability to effectively counter narco-terrorism,” said U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman, according to a press release.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the international humanitarian organization, warned last year that certain intellectual property clauses of a potential trade agreement between Peru and the U.S. would make it harder for poor people to afford essential medicines, including antiretrovirals for the treatment of HIV/AIDS.

"Every day, people with HIV/AIDS are dying in Peru, and the only hope for access to treatment is through affordable medicines. If the US gets its way, every new medicine brought to the market for AIDS and other illnesses will be unaffordable for individual patients and the health system in general," said Cedric Martin, head of mission for MSF in Peru, according to a press release.

This concern was echoed earlier this year by Paul Hunt, a United Nations human rights expert. "I am concerned that the US-Peru free trade negotiations could lead to higher protection of patents than is currently required under the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO)," Hunt said, adding, “Higher protection of patents could restrict Governments from taking action to protect the right to health in the future,” according to a statement in a UN website.