MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Second anniversary of EU-Chile trade agreement

Chile celebrated Tuesday the second anniversary of the signing of the association agreement with the European Union which has seen bilateral trade expand from 7,3 billion US dollars in 2002, to 8,3 billion in 2003 and a forecast of 10 billion for 2004.

Chilean Foreign Secretary Ignacio Walker said that the occasion underlines the importance of trade to help build a "more prosperous, safer and peaceful" world.

"This is very encouraging occasion because the association between Chile and the EU has a projection that extends beyond bilateral relations, but opens an certain path for the integration of the EU and Latinamerica", added Mr. Walker.

The second review of the agreement will take place in Santiago this week when the performance of the accord in the several fields will be assessed.

The EU-Chile association agreement became effective February 2003.

Another recent bilateral trade agreement signed by Chile is also booming. Trade with South Korea in the first six months has increased 72% (901 million US dollars) compared to the same period in 2003 (April-September)

Although analysts point out to the current excellent performance of the South Korean economy and copper has been the main export, Chilean products under the agreement only face a 4,2% tariff in South Korea besides the fact that Chile is the only South American country to have signed a trade association of this type.