The head of the European Commission’s delegation to Peru, Hans Allden, said Thursday he expects the European Union and Peru to conclude negotiations for a free trade agreement next week.
Allden told state news agency Andina the European Union’s objective is to reach a trade agreement during the ninth round of negotiations with Peru and Colombia scheduled for Feb. 22-26 in Brussels. The delegations are expected to discuss rules of origin, sustainable development, and the refund of duties paid by exporting companies, known as drawback, Radio Programas Peru reported.
The European Union’s policy is to reach free trade accords only with trade blocks, and not with individual countries, and in this case the Andean Community. The EU is the region’s second largest trading partner after the United States.
The EU and Andean Community began negotiations for a region-to-region Association Agreement that included political dialogue, cooperation and trade in June 2007. They were suspended a year later due to a lack of agreement between the Andean countries on the trade issues.
Trade negotiations between the EU and three Andean countries – Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador – resumed in January 2009. In July, however, Ecuador suspended its participation.
According to a European Commission report, the EU was the source of about 15 percent of Peru’s total exports in 2008.
Peru’s government is also hoping to complete free trade accords with Japan and South Korea this year.
