During the past eight years, there has been a concern in several agricultural sectors of Colombia but particularly with the rice sector.
The Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism, José Manuel Restrepo, told the media that Colombia has implemented restrictions on rice imports and has been sewed several times, among those is that made by Peru.
“He indicated that in the dispute with Peru ‘there has not been any action as it should have been done’ and this issue had two alternative solutions”, explained Gestión.
To him, the first step to take is to solve those differences. The second is to achieve the admissibility of the Colombian rice to the other CAN (Andean Community) countries because, “just as rice can come to Colombia, it must also be exported”, Restrepo insisted.The Colombian minister explained that this eligibility for Colombian rice had not been requested and until the process is followed, Colombian rice cannot go to the CAN countries, including Peru.
"What I did was to request formal admissibility with Peru, which today applies sanctions that affect trade to sectors of agriculture and industry. What we did was work on that bilateral relationship to find a solution," he said.
He also informed that the agreement of admissibility with Peru is almost finished, but there are some issues that the Peruvian authorities are requesting."If there is no admissibility then it cannot be exported," he said.
