UNDER SECRETARY BURNS AND U.S. DELEGATION MEET

C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 010318

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/27/2016
TAGS: MARR PGOV PREL PTER CO EC BL
SUBJECT: UNDER SECRETARY BURNS AND U.S. DELEGATION MEET
WITH PRESIDENT URIBE AND CABINET MEMBERS

Classified By: Classified by: Ambassador William B. Wood
Reason: 1.4(b, d)

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Summary
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1. (C) U/S Burns and the U.S. delegation capped a successful
two-day visit to Bogota with a plenary session on October 25
that included President Uribe, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Araujo, Minister of Defense Santos, Minister of Commerce
Botero and other senior GOC officials. U/S Burns and Uribe
agreed to develop jointly a Plan Colombia Consolidation plan
to present to the U.S. Congress by January 2007. Uribe urged
quick passage of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement and
extension of trade preferences for all Andean beneficiaries.
Both sides reiterated the importance of strengthening the
strategic relationship on trade, security, and regional
issues. End Summary.

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Plan Colombia Consolidation
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2. (C) U/S Burns and President Uribe agreed to develop a Plan
Colombia Consolidation proposal by January 2007 to share with
the U.S. Congress. The Plan should reflect U.S. and
Colombian priorities and show how Plan Colombia spending
would evolve. INL A/S Patterson suggested the formation of
four working groups to address: (1) the desired end state;
(2) the pace and sequencing of nationalization; (3) Pacific
Coast issues; and (4) the development of programs to enhance
GOC control of territory. She praised the GOC,s success in
sharply reducing violence across the board in recent years as
well as the extent to which the GOC had regained control of
territory from terrorists.


3. (C) Uribe and Defense Minister Santos stressed the need to
use Plan Colombia resources more flexibly to increase
efficiency. Uribe said Colombia was ready to assume more
responsibility as Plan Colombia "nationalization" proceeds.
He suggested the 2007 aerial eradication target should be
160,000 hectares, with an additional 50,000 hectares
eradicated manually. He proposed increasing the logistical
support for three existing spray bases rather than build a
new one.

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FTA as Cornerstone of a Broad Economic Relationship
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4. (C) EB A/S Sullivan emphasized the U.S. and Colombia
should seize the opportunity to use FTA as the cornerstone of
a broader strategic economic relationship. He suggested
sectors such as civil aviation, energy, and
telecommunications were ripe for deeper cooperation.
Agreements in these sectors would complement the FTA and
boost its trade-creating potential. Both sides had discussed
the possibility of an Open Skies agreement related to cargo
traffic. Sullivan underlined that FTA would help solidify
Colombia's impressive macroeconomic accomplishments on GDP
growth, and debt and poverty reduction. The U.S. and
Colombia needed to explain better that FTA benefits would be
widely distributed in both countries.


5. (C) Uribe urged that the FTA be signed as soon as
possible, hopefully in the lame duck session of the U.S.
Congress. He claimed Colombia had made many more FTA
concessions than they planned, including in the areas of
30-month old beef and intellectual property. If FTA
ratification was delayed, Uribe stressed the need to extend
ATPDEA trade preferences to prevent "socially devastating"
consequences in the Colombian apparel and flower sectors and
to show Andean nations *- especially Ecuador -- the U.S.
commitment to the region. Announcement of an ATPDEA
extension of ATPDEA would also help the pro-free trade
candidate in Ecuador,s presidential elections. Still, he
urged that any ATPDEA extension be temporary to keep the
pressure on Ecuador and Bolivia to sign FTAs. Commerce
Minister Botero said the GOC expected the Colombian Congress
to approve the FTA by February.

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"A Successful Colombia Changes the Face of South America"
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6. (C) WHA A/S Shannon noted that Presidents Bush and Uribe
had committed at Crawford to enhance the bilateral
relationship by developing a broader vision of our
cooperation. We should build on the success of Plan
Colombia, and lock down support for Plan Colombia
Consolidation. Shannon reiterated the U.S. commitment to
Colombia, saying &a successful Colombia changes the face of
South America.


7. (C) Foreign Minister Araujo welcomed Shannon's comment,
and emphasized Colombia's efforts to promote economic
integration, especially with Central America. She said
Colombia believed in the Andean Community as "natural
partners" for Colombia, and had welcomed Chile,s recent
entry into the group. Colombia would also promote Pacific
Coast integration in the hemisphere through interlocking free
trade agreements, as well as deeper relationships with the
dynamic Asian economies.

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Strategic POL-MIL Partnership
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8. (C) PM P/DAS Stephen Mull reported on the positive
discussions he had with his Colombian interlocutors on
strengthening the strategic defense partnership, a subject
Secretary Rumsfeld and Defense Minister Santos had addressed

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at the October Defense Ministerial of the Americas in
Nicaragua. Mull said he would look into Colombian concerns
about the slow delivery of helicopters, and offered U.S.
assistance in the destruction of small arms and light weapons
turned in as part of the demobilization process. Uribe
interjected that Colombian urgently needed precision-guided
munitions, and urged the U.S to provide them as soon as
possible.

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Press Conference Highlights Strategic Relationship
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9. (C) Burns told a press conference following the Delegation
meeting he was convinced the strategic partnership was
strong. Plan Colombia enjoyed bipartisan support in the U.S.
Burns said the U.S. was impressed with Colombia's economic
progress and that FTA should promote economic growth and
investment in both countries. He emphasized that the human
rights situation had improved dramatically in recent years
but said Colombia could make more progress.
10.(U) This cable has been cleared by U/S Burns.
WOOD