MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile and Canada celebrate 10th FTA anniversary

Chilean and Canadian authorities celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries on Wednesday in Santiago.

Although the FTA was signed in 1997, trade did not become completely tariff free until the agreement reached its "third stage" in 2003. Trade rose to US$1.77 billion in 2006, an increase of 215 percent from 1997. The FTA accelerated Chilean exports to Canada significantly. Between 1997 and 2006, exports grew by an average of 29 percent per year, mirroring Chile's exports to the rest of the world during this time. The FTA changed the composition of the export market. Before the agreement, industrial products represented about half Chile's exports to Canada. Today, however, they account for only 25 percent, with mineral (mostly copper) exports accounting now for more than 70 percent of Chile's exports to Canada. Because of record high copper prices, the result has been an US$800 million trade surplus for Chile. "This FTA is a milestone in Chile's trade policy since it is the first agreement to reach its third stage in our country, and it marks a substantial change in the way Chile asserts itself in the global economy," said Foreign Ministry undersecretary Alberto van Klaveren. Also at the ceremony were Norbert Kalisch, Canada's ambassador to Chile; Carlos Furche, the director of Direcon; Carlos Appelgren, director of the Foreign Ministry's North America department, and representatives from Scotiabank and Air Canada. The Santiago Times