Peru and Japan start free-trade negotiations
Associated Press | 25 May 2009
Peru and Japan start free-trade negotiations
LIMA, Peru
Peru and Japan have launched the first round of negotiations for a planned free-trade pact as Peru’s government pledges closer ties to Asia’s markets.
Access to markets, financial services, intellectual property rights and telecommunications, among other fields, will be negotiated in the first, six-day round of talks in Peru’s capital.
Since 2004, trade between Peru and Japan has grown 235 percent, hitting a record $2.2 billion in 2007. Eighty-five percent of Peru’s exports to Japan are minerals.
Peru has signed free-trade pacts with Singapore and China and is negotiating a pact with South Korea. The South American nation’s foreign commerce and tourism ministry said Monday that the trade pacts are part of an effort to "integrate" with Asia’s growing economies.
