July 21, 2010
Peruvian seafood exporters to gain from EFTA pact
All Peruvian fisheries and industrial sector exports will enter, with no tariff, the countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which consists of Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
The liberalisation of tariffs is provided in the Free Trade Treaty signed on July 14 by the Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, MartÃn Pérez Monteverde, and the Secretary of State and Deputy Minister of Economy of Switzerland, Jean-Daniel Gerber, representing the two sides.
The Peruvian minister said that this trade agreement will provide the opportunity for domestic exporters to better compete in the EFTA markets.
"The biggest winners are the industrial and fisheries sectors. An estimated 100% of Peruvian exports of these products enter at zero duty from the first day of validity of the agreement," said Monteverde.
He stressed that the government procurement chapter explicitly recognises the importance of the participation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
The EFTA is the fourth largest export market of Peru, after the US, the EU and China.
"The bilateral trade amounted to US$4.119 million in 2009, increasing by 14% over the previous year. In 2009 also, our exports to EFTA reached US$3.988 million, an increase of 15% over 2008. During the period from January to May 2010, Peru's exports to EFTA amounted to US$1.488 million," said the Ministry of Foreign Trade.
Under the FTA, it was agreed that neither party shall maintain, introduce or reintroduce export subsidies.
Peru maintains indefinitely the possibility of applying the system of tariff-drawback refund schemes and temporary import and export. In addition, goods produced in the Free Zones shall be eligible for tariff preferences of the treaty.
The FTA negotiations culminated in November 2009 and the legal review of the agreed texts in Spanish and English were completed in March 2010.
