MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile and the European Union closer

Chile and the European Union are quickly advancing to a free trade agreement that could be officially signed next May in Madrid during the second Euro-American summit, according to Mr. Osvaldo Rosales Director of International Trade Relations in the Chilean Foreign Affairs Ministry.

The chapter on Intellectual Property was defined in the last round of negotiations and two more areas are closing in: Technical Barriers to Trade and Sanitary Regulations, that could be finalized next March.

Mr. Rosales added that two other areas of particular interest for Chile, agriculture and agro-industry, Europe has promised for next March proposals regarding tariffs, quotas and a reduction timetable.

"Actually this past week it was the Europeans who expressed publicly an interest in signing an agreement next May when the summit", stressed Mr. Rosales.

Regarding fisheries which has become a thorny issue Mr. Rosales said "there will be no surprises; we're certainly not leaving fisheries for the end. Europe has not even mentioned any particular area for the last moment of the last round".

The next round of negotiations in the first week of March will be held in Brussels, and a second sometime in early April but no location has been decided.

There could be an extraordinary meeting in Santiago in March since Chileans have also a round scheduled of trade talks scheduled with the United States.

Although there have been more negotiations with the US, Europe-Chile talks are developing at a faster pace.