Peru signed Free Trade Agreement with UE

Peru and Colombia signed with the European Union (EU) Multiparty Trade Agreement, known as the Free Trade Agreement , the bloc's headquarters in the city of Brussels, Belgium.

Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism of Peru, Jose Luis Silva Trade Commissioner of the European Union, Karel De Gucht and Minister of Commerce and Industry of Colombia, Sergio Diaz-Granados signed the agreement.

"I am pleased today to sign trade agreement with Colombia and Peru, which creates a stable framework to boost trade and investment between the EU and the Andean region," said De Gucht.

Meanwhile, Minister Silva welcomed the agreement: "The relationship between Latin America and the EU have centuries and it has been building a relationship in which trade has been part of daily walk. For Peru, the EU is its main trading partner. In the last ten years has quintupled trade between our countries and our exports grew 4 times in that same period. "

He added that the two countries are complementary in providing higher value added manufacturing and service sector. And he emphasized that Peru 95% of their trade under the protection of an FTA.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade, Carlos Posada, said it has sent canned fish with great success and also identified potential products like maca, Sacha Inchi, Brazil nuts and mangos and organic bananas. In textiles and apparel, also opens the door for the export of alpaca wool garments.

Some Notes :

The EU is the second largest trading partner of the Andean region after the US.  In 2010, the Andean Community of Nations represented 0.7% of the EU's world trade, whereas the EU totaled 14% of CAN's trade (2009). In 2010,EU imports from Andean countries are predominantly primary products: agricultural products (41.1%); fuels and mining products (44.7%). EU exports consist mostly of manufactured goods (81.5%), notably machinery and transport equipment (46.5%) and chemical products (13.8%). The EU grants the Andean countries preferential access to its market under the EU's General System of Preferences(special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance, known as GSP+).

Trade in goods

• EU goods exports to the Andean Community in 2010: €7.9 billion
• EU goods imports from the Andean Community in 2010: €12.2 billion

The agreement must be ratified by the European Parliament in October. You can download it here