Progress made in negotiations on China-Chile Free Trade Zone Investment Agreement

China's Ministry of Commerce stated that between April 7 and 8, the second round of negotiations on the China-Chile Free Trade Zone Investment Agreement was held in Beijing. The two sides came to an agreement regarding the basic text for the negotiations on the investment agreement, and have provided the details of their own focus points.

Both sides hope that an investment agreement can be reached as soon as possible, based on equality, mutual benefit as well as practical and effective negotiation.

The China-Chile Free Trade Agreement, which was signed in November 2005 and mainly includes content on the trade of goods and cooperation, was implemented in October 2006. Since the agreement was implemented, China-Chile bilateral trade has grown rapidly. The utilization ratio of the agreement has been quite high and the results of implementation are very positive. In the first and second years since the agreement was implemented, bilateral trade volumes were 13.2 billion USD and 17.6 billion USD, respectively, up 59 percent and 33 percent year-on-year.

In April 2008, China and Chile signed the Supplementary Agreement on Services to the China-Chile Free Trade Agreement (also called the China-Chile Free Trade Zone Service Trade Agreement). This agreement is expected to be implemented in the first half of this year after it passes the domestic approval procedures of both countries.

Source: People's Daily Online