Chile concludes negotiations with New Zealand, Singapore, and Brunei Darussalam

Chile, Brunei Darussalam, New Zealand and Singapore announced last June 2 that they had concluded negotiations to establish a Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (Trans-Pacific SEP or P-4 Agreement). The announcement –made on the margins of APEC’s Trade ministers meeting held in Korea- concludes negotiations started in 2002.

The P-4 agreement builds a bridge between Latin American, the Pacific and Asia. It will foster trade liberalization, trade facilitation and strategic cooperation among its members, providing an instrument to channel expertise, technology and resources to improve their competitive edge in global markets.

As a result of the agreement, more than 90 percent of trade in goods among the four parties will be duty free on day one. After ten years, all trade will flow free of tariffs. The free exchange of goods will be complemented by trade facilitation commitments in areas such as sanitary and phytosanitary measures, standards, and customs procedures.

The agreement also includes provisions on government procurement, competition policy, intellectual property and temporary entry of business people. The parties also committed to a liberalizing framework to encourage trade in services.

Finally, the agreement also defines a framework for cooperation on strategic initiatives such as technology, innovation, and research and development applied to different productive sectors.

The P-4 members expressed their intention to have the Trans-Pacific SEP agreement become effective on January 1st, 2006.