Mar. 1, 2010 (China Knowledge) - The Free Trade Agreement between China and Peru came into effect today, according to the Ministry of Commerce of China.
The FTA will allow duty-free entry for many Peruvian products into China, which is one of the major world markets and has a lot of purchasing power.
Hu Jintao, the president of China, and Alan Garcia, the president of Peru, announced the commencement of negotiations on Sep. 7, 2007, during the 2007 APEC summit. On Nov. 19, 2008, Garcia and Hu announced together that the Sino-Peru Free Trade Agreement had concluded successfully.
China is the second-largest trade partner of Peru. Also, Peru is China's main investment and trade country in Latin America.
The trade value between China and Peru was US$7.5 billion in 2008, up 24% year on year. Exports form China to Peru amounted to US$2.8 billion and imports were US$4.7 billion during the year, according to statistics released by China Customs.