By Susana Lima

Rafael Roncagliolo, Peruvian representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday that due to difficulties between Bogota and Brussels, the European Union has delayed the approval of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Colombia and Peru.

The Chancellor said in a statement: The treaty will come out, there are more difficulties with Colombia then with Peru because it is a multipart agreement with the two countries. I am very optimistic about the output of the Free Trade Agreement. I have met with all groups in the European Parliament.

Since Europe is the third largest trading partner of the nation, President Ollanta Humala has a scheduled tour to Brussels, Madrid and Davos in the coming weeks.

On September 26th, the trade ministers of the EU presented to the European Council the achieved progress to the confirmation of the FTA with Colombia and Peru, which must be approved by EU Parliament.

Base on the principle of "regional integration", the EU on the also invited two other member nations of the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) Ecuador and Bolivia to join the FTA between the EU and Colombia and Peru.

Both countries were part of the agreement between the Andean countries at first, but gave up when learned that the deal included a free trade agreement.

Goods bilateral trade between the European Union (EU) and Colombia and Peru combined, last year represented 16,000 million euros (U.S. $ 23,100 million), according to European Commission.