According to a Cedetrabajo report, the country’s technological advances are restricted because intellectual property laws make technology trade between the two countries more expensive
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Since 2004 when the negotiations of the Treaty began of free trade between Colombia and the United States, until 10 years ago when it came into force, one or another journalistic note was published in different media about how technology would influence this economic agreement.
Newspapers suggested that the inclusion of technological processes and tools in Colombian companies would work as an option to balance the productive conditions between Colombia and the United States.
However, 10 years after being in strictness of this trade agreement, the economic studies center Cedetrabajo organized a press conference with Acopi, the association of small and medium-sized enterprises, and other entities to deliver a report on the 10 years of the FTA with the United States.
Enrique Daza, director of the organization, explains that according to the agreements reached in the FTA, investors cannot be required to transfer technology because it is not a requirement, which limits the technological development of the country. The foregoing, because one way in which many countries in the world have achieved certain development in technology has been through reverse engineering in which they study and try to replicate devices and machinery that are imported.
On the other hand, Daza also suggests that the country’s technological advances are restricted because intellectual property laws make technology trade between the two countries more expensive.
Another important aspect is that Colombia is heavily dependent on third-party technology products and services, and although it had primarily relied on the United States, it has been receiving significant commercial influence from China.
For Miguel Rodríguez, research coordinator at Cedetrabajo, Colombia has presented a substitution effect due to the fact that the large amount of computer and electronic machinery and devices is no longer imported from the United States, but rather is being brought to a greater extent from China, probably due to the relocation processes of the factories for the production of electronic and technological devices.
These facts imply that Colombia has not developed its technological industry and on the contrary, the country failed to diversify its production.
What are free trade agreements
According to the Ministry of Commerce of the Republic of Colombia, they are regional agreements or bilateral agreements between two countries that establish exports and imports of goods and services without tariffs.
The main objective of free trade agreements is to expand the potential markets of a country to generate economic growth and industrial.