Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper signed a free-trade accord today, ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Lima.

The accord, which eases access to markets for C$1.14 billion ($890 million) in annual bilateral trade, was announced in June after less than a year of negotiations.

President George W. Bush, who arrived in Lima today, has also made approving a free-trade agreement with Colombia, a top ally in the fight against drugs, a priority before leaving office in January. U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, echoing concerns about Colombia's human-rights record raised by labor unions, opposed the agreement during his campaign for president.

``President Uribe asked me whether I thought our agreement would encourage passage of the agreement with the U.S.,'' Harper said in a press conference. ``If it does not, of course, we'll be anxious to sell our products to Colombia quicker than the Americans.''

Colombia and the U.S. completed talks to remove most barriers on $18 billion in annual bilateral trade in February 2006. The agreement, which would be Washington's biggest in the Western Hemisphere since the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, has languished over Democrats' concerns that Uribe isn't doing enough to stamp out violence against labor organizers.

Vote Unlikely

The U.S. is Colombia's biggest trading partner and the source of over $700 million in annual anti-narcotics aid.

Democrats in Congress earlier this year delayed a vote on the trade accord, denying Uribe a chance at his most significant foreign policy victory. Lobbyists are seeking to get the pact approved during the last days of the current Congress, before new members come in.

Uribe said he would pursue ``with urgency and patience'' the trade accord with the U.S. Canadian investment spurred by the accord would help increase the exploration of oil across almost half of the country's from just 13 percent of its territory when he took office in 2002, he said.

Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the New York-based Council of the Americas, said the U.S. Congress was unlikely to vote on the Colombia accord before Obama takes office.

``Colombia's accord with Canada is another example of the hemisphere moving ahead without us,'' he said in an interview in Lima.

In an effort to broaden its commercial ties to Asia, Colombia tomorrow will also sign a bilateral investment treaty with China, Trade Minister Luis Guillermo Plata said in a statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Joshua Goodman in Lima at Jgoodman19@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 21, 2008 21:05 EST