Peru – China FTA: Mincetur aims to optimize the treaty this year

The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur) will hold between May 30 and June 2 the fifth round of negotiations to optimize the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Peru and China. Said meeting will take place in Beijing, according to the minister of the sector, Juan Carlos Mathews.

“Although there has been significant growth in the commercial relationship with China, there are some areas that are not specified in the agreement. For example, the issue of electronic commerce. A table will seek to incorporate components that stimulate electronic commerce to open opportunities for micro and small businesses”the minister asserted.

Additionally, it will seek to provide greater customs facilities and advantages for joint ventures between companies from China and Peru. “We have found a good disposition from China and a delegation of 10 Mincetur technicians is going to work each of the tables”he asserted.

As Mathews clarified, a sixth round of negotiations would be expected. However, the goal is to have the optimization approved this year. “The goal is to have it this year. We are working with the times. We do not believe that, in this case, there will be major difficulties”he asserted.

Safeguards

On the other hand, the minister asserted that to date his office has not received the report on the safeguards applied to Chinese imports. He asserted that the safeguard is a tool that is applied only in extreme cases of damage to the local industry.

“We are waiting for the report from Indecopi, who will indicate whether it is appropriate to apply them or not. Most likely, it will have to be disaggregated and applied to a certain type of footwear”he commented.