China, Chile to start FTA talks on service trade/investment next Jan - report
FX News Limited 11.29.2006
China, Chile to start FTA talks on service trade/investment next Jan - report
BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - China and Chile will start negotiations in January for a free trade agreement (FTA) covering service trade and investment, the official China Daily reported.
’The talks are expected to be wrapped up by the end of 2008, or earlier than that, maybe the middle of 2008,’ the report quoted Fernando Reyes Matta, Chile’s Ambassador to China, as saying.
A previous bilateral agreement forged in 2005, and covering commodities, came into effect last October. It stipulates that tariffs on 97 pct of commodities from the two nations will be removed within 10 years, starting November 1 this year.
China has become Chile’s second-largest trade partner and Chile is China’s third-largest trade partner in Latin America, the daily said.
