Chile's President Michelle Bachelet yesterday signed into law a
free trade agreement with China, which gives Chile's exports almost
free access to China's massive market.
"The treaty we have signed is very important for the working
people of this country," Bachelet told a joint press conference
with Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley Rioseco and Finance Minister
Andres Velasco Branes.
"We are convinced that an agreement of this nature will benefit
the majority of Chileans," she added.
The agreement will strengthen Chile's international position by
facilitating Chilean products' access to the Chinese market, the
president said, noting the accord is a "milestone" in Chile's trade
expansion, which is "linking us in a privileged way to a country
that already is the world's fourth largest economy."
The deal, the first of its kind between China and a Latin
American country, was inked in Busan, South Korea, on November 18
last year, just before the opening of the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation summit.
Under the accord, ratified by Chile's parliament on August 9, 92
percent of Chile's exports to China are tariff-free. The figure
will rise to 99 percent by the end of 10 years' time, while some 97
percent of Chinese exports to Chile will be tariff-free after the
same time span.
Trade between Chile and China reached US$7.14 billion in 2005,
up from US$5.3 billion in 2004 and US$3.5 billion in 2003.
In the first quarter of 2006, bilateral trade soared to over
US$3.6 billion. China is now Chile's second largest trading partner
after the US.
(Xinhua News Agency August 22, 2006)
