Since 2001, Bolivia's leading legal agricultural export has been soybeans.

Since an international coffee agreement was suspended two months ago, prices have plunged more than 40 percent on Colombia's leading legal export.

The passage of the law stopped the legal exports, but illegal trafficking has continued.

Illegal drugs provide more income than any legal export.

He added that all of the nations in each region would have to satisfy the secretariat's concerns before any of them could resume legal exports.

Drug trafficking brings between $300 million and $500 million into the Bolivian economy each year, compared with legal exports of $1 billion.

And they circumvent the red tape surrounding legal exports.

The collapse of the international tin market two years ago almost wiped out Bolivia's main legal export.

I think that the real problem is to differentiate between legal and illegal exports, because this is actually a grey area.

"As the illegal trade declines, legal exports - and thus government earnings - will rise accordingly in future years."