Bolivia called on the United States to renew the agreement that reduces tariffs on Andean nation exports to the United States, said reports from Bolivia's administrative capital La Paz on Friday.

Gustavo Guzman, Bolivia's incoming ambassador to the United States, told media in La Paz that, despite Bolivia's tense and complex ties with the United States, he had received the verbal consent of U.S. officials on the Andean deal -- Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA), which is due to expire at the end of this year.

President Evo Morales said he had already asked the United States to extend the ATPDEA accord, which is applicable to Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador, in a bid to give top cocaine-producing countries favorable trade terms to promote licit industry.

The four nations, with Bolivia as an observer, have begun joint negotiations to turn the 1991 ATPDEA agreement into a free trade pact.

But talks grew complicated this year and only Peru has completed the free trade agreement process.

Guzman said some U.S. officials had expressed their approval of a peasant-led coca eradication plan, a product of an agreement with President Morales, who is seeking to have coca leaves decriminalized under a plan called "coca yes, cocaine no."

Source: Xinhua