August 15, 2014?Colombia will modernize its customs procedures\r\nwith assistance from Nathan Associates. The assistance, under a two-year, $2.7\r\nmillion contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development, aims to\r\nboost Colombia?s ability to benefit from liberalized trade with the United\r\nStates.

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Colombia?s customs administration (DIAN) expects to improve\r\nits import processing times for both cargo and express shipments and implement\r\nan advance ruling system. The project will also support the Ministry of Trade\r\n(MinCIT) improve its single window for foreign trade, and promote U.S. and\r\nColombian cooperation on technical regulations through development of\r\nstandards.

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The project, known as a Facilitando\r\nComercio, entails working with the the Colombian technical standards\r\ninstitute (ICONTEC) in addition to DIAN.

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The U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (CTPA) took\r\neffect in May 2012, and USAID?s Free Trade Agreement Implementation Activity under\r\nFacilitando Comercio is designed to strengthen\r\nColombia?s ability to implement key provisions of CTPA. Tariff elimination is a\r\nlarge component of CTPA, which means the project will also include a focus on\r\nrules of origin to ensure the private sector can benefit from preferential\r\ntreatment.

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Nathan has been working in Colombia since 2005 as part of USAID?s\r\nAndean Trade\r\nCapacity Building Program.