on April 5, 2009 by admin in Uncategorized, Comments Off

Chile-Peru FTA

The official gazette of Peru has published a decree that the Peru-Chile Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will come into full effect from Sunday, March 1 2009. The trade pact thus forms an elaborate replacement of Free-Trade Complementation Pact which both signed in 2006. Both countries signed such a pact then, to realize the potential of collectively tapping Asia-Pacific market as well as to improve trade ties between them.

Earlier, after a meeting between Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet and José Miguel Morales, spokesman for Peruvian-Chilean Business Council, both jointly declared the FTA would be in force on the first day of March. According to sources, Bachelet had expressed great optimism in opening the markets to their neighbour, especially in a time when most countries were closing the markets to protect their goods from external competition.

Morales remarked that last year the two-way trade between Peru and Chile reached $3bn, which in turn helped 1,400 Chilean companies and 1,200 of Peru as well. Once the FTA comes into force both parties expect that their Small and Medium (S & M) businesses to further make gains like that they did under the previous deal. 90 percent of S & M businesses of both nations have immensely benefitted from the Complementation Pact.

The commencement of the new deal is expected to further boost both economies in these difficult times. Nevertheless, the slump in mineral exports has not dampened the spirit of both countries to go ahead with the open market policy. Peru and Chile largely depend on their mineral exports, and mineral prices have dropped sharply in recent times.

The full text of the Peru-Chile FTA is available on the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Commerce and Tourism (Mincetur). The ministry is entitled to verify, implement and provide pertinent information about the FTA between both nations time to time.

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