On April 4, Edgar Vasquez, Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, announced the culmination of the first round of negotiations for the Optimization of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Peru and China. Although both countries have a trade agreement in force since 2010, the objective of the proposal is to renegotiate the treaty to widen its coverage on electronic commerce and customs mechanisms. The next round of negotiations will take place in June.

Peru has had an FTA with China for nine years: a period in which the commercial relationship with the Asian country has been strengthened, turning it into Peru’s main commercial partner. However, the Ministry explained that there are areas where the treaty can be improved and updated. One of them is e-commerce.

Thus, during the first round of negotiations, issues related to the optimization of the chapters on Rules of Origin, Customs Matters, Trade in Services, Investment and Intellectual Property were discussed. In addition, the inclusion of new chapters such as Competition and Electronic Commerce were discussed.

According to the minister, the updating of the agreement will facilitate the activities of Peru’s exporters and importers as well as Chinese investment in telecommunications, transport, logistics and financial services. The next Free Trade Agreement Optimization meeting will take place in Lima, Peru, in June.