Center

China, Chile start new FTA talks as one goes into effect

By Ding Qingfen (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-11-30 08:39

"I think it was a clever idea to start with commodity trade, and then go on to service trade and investment," said Matta.

"It would be a much more complicated process if we had tried to include (everything) in the first negotiations," he added.

Matta compared the situation to China's ongoing FTA talks with Australia, which includes all sectors. The countries have yet to agree on issues related to opening services, agriculture, and manufacturing sectors.

The China-Chile FTA that has gone into effect stipulates tariffs on 97 per cent of products from the two nations will be removed in 10 years, starting from November 1.

From 2001 to 2005, China-Chile trade volume has grown rapidly. In 2000, bi-lateral trade was US$2 billion, but that figure jumped to more than US$7 billion.

China has become Chile's second-largest trade partner and Chile is China's third-largest trade partner in Latin America.

By the end of this June, investment from China into Chile was US$28 million, and China has attracted foreign direct investment worth US$53 million from Chile.