Witnessed by Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping and Peruvian Vice-President Luis Giampietri Rojas, Yi Xiaozhun, Vice Minister of Commerce, and Mercedes Araoz Fernandez, Peruvian Minister of Trade and Tourism, signed, on behalf of their own government, China-Peru Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in the Great Hall of the People on April 28. China-Peru FTA, the first package FTA China signed with a country in Latin American, is a new landmark in bilateral ties.
The China-Peru FTA features wide coverage and high degree of openness. Over 90 percent of trade in goods between China and Peru will enjoy zero tariff on a stage-by-stage basis. Trade in goods covers China's products from light industry, electronics, home appliances, machinery, automobile, chemicals, vegetables and fruits, and Peru's fish powder, minerals, fruits and fish products. Trade in services, both countries pledge to further open up their service sectors based on their respective commitments to WTO. In terms of investment, each side will give Post-Establishment National Treatment, MFN and Fair and Equitable Treatment to investors from the other side, and encourage and provide facilitation to investment The two countries also reached agreements on such issues as intellectual property, trade relief, rules of origin, customs procedures, TBT and SPS, etc. More information can be found at "China Free Trade Area Service" (fta.mofcom.gov.cn).
China and Peru commenced FTA negotiations on September 7th, 2007, when Chinese President Hu Jintao and Peruvian President Garcia attended APEC informal leadership meeting in Sydney, and announced jointly to commence the negotiation. 8 rounds of negotiation and one working group meeting were held, before November 19th, 2008 when President Hu Jintao was on a state visit to Peru and announced jointly with Peruvian President Garcia that China - Peru FTA negotiations was concluded successfully. China and Peru are strongly complementary in economy, and bilateral relations are developing rapidly in recent years. At present, China is Peru's second largest trading partner, while Peru is China's seventh largest trading partner in Latin America. According to statistics from Chinese customs, bilateral trade in 2008 reached USD7.5 billion, up 24% compared with the previous year, among which China’s exports are USD2.8 billion and imports are USD4.7 billion.
Up to date, China has signed FTA with ASEAN, Chile, Pakistan, New Zealand, Singapore and Peru, and is negotiating FTA with Australia, the Gulf Cooperation Council (including six countries of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain), Iceland, Norway, Costa Rica and the Southern African Customs Union.
