Living in Peru | 21 August, 2007

Peru - Mexico to Negotiate Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in September

(LIP-ir) — Peru’s Minister of Tourism and Foreign Trade, Mercedes Aráoz, has announced that Peru and Mexico will begin negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on September 17.

Near the end of July, Mexico and Peru decided to extend Economic Complementation Agreement (ECA) No 8, which was to expire on December 31 of this year, until June 30 2008.

"We are interested in having this process advance. A fundamental element was achieving the extension of the ECA for six more months so that negotiations could be handled calmly and so that the flow of trade would not be affected," stated Peru’s Minister of Foreign Trade.

It was reported that Peru was interested in negotiating agricultural topics with Mexico so that Mexico could be more flexible in this area. Because Peru’s agricultural products do not directly compete with Mexican products, it is hoped that agreements will be reached.

"We are not direct competition for Mexico, we are an attractive market for them in this sector (agriculture) because we work during different seasons, there is an interesting opportunity. This is not the case with the other markets they (Mexico) negotiate with," explained Aráoz.