Peru refuses price raise on medicines at FTA negotiation with EU
Peru refuses price raise on medicines at FTA negotiation with EU
Xinhua 2009-03-27
LIMA, March 26 (Xinhua) — The Peruvian Foreign Trade and Tourism Ministry said Thursday that Peru will not accept raise in medicine prices in the second round of negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU).
"We are not going to take an agreement where the medicines become more expensive," Vice Minister Eduardo Ferreyros said in a press conference.
Peru, Colombia and Ecuador are holding negotiations with the EU to reach an FTA.
"Countries have capacity to give proposals they consider necessary and in this issue (medicines), Peru has a clear position and it knows where it can move." said Ferreyros.
"We are on a negotiation process and we all must be calmed because Peru is clear what is its position," Ferreyros added.
After two additional negotiation rounds, the FTA could be closed, despite for the Mincetur the most important is the content of the agreement, Ferreyros said.
"It is not important the time (to close the agreement), but the content and the moment when Peru finds its interests are reflected in the agreements. In that moment we are going to be ready to finish the negotiations. While it does not happen then the process will continue its way," Ferreyros said.
The vice minister said progress has been made in the second round of FTA talks, which kicked off Monday and will be concluded Saturday.
"There was an exchange of offers and requests, some offers have been manages, we are moving on issues of services and on issues of technical obstacles for commerce as well as on sanitary and phytosanitary issues," Ferreyros said.
Ferreyros added that Peruvian negotiators insist on the EU to accept Peru’s proposal on biodiversity protection.
"In some issues it is easer to go beyond the established by the World Health Organization (WHO) and in other cases it is more complicated, but we want the biodiversity issues to go beyond what the WHO has and we have proposals in that sense," Ferreyros said.
