MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bush makes effective Peru-US free trade agreement

United States and Peru began on Friday the implementation of a free trade agreement just days before US president George W Bush leaves office and despite concerns about labour and environmental aspects of the accord.

The proclamation signed by President Bush makes Peru the 17th free trade partner of the US and the 14th country added to that list since he took office in 2001. US-Peru bilateral trade is about 9.4 billion US dollars annually. The agreement becomes effective next February first. "Today's proclamation marks an important milestone in our relationship with Peru, one of our strongest allies in Latin America" U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said in a statement after Bush issued the order. "The additional market openness brought by this agreement will enhance our trade and prosperity in the future and support existing and future high-paying American jobs, particularly in manufacturing and agriculture" added Susan Schwab. President Alan Garcia, at a ceremony in Lima, praised Peru's first trade deal with a major economy, and said it will help ease the impact of the global economic crisis. "We've fulfilled a very important goal for our nation" said Garcia who has aggressively pushed free trade since taking office in 2006. Peru, one of the world's fastest-growing economies, is also working on trade deals with Canada, EU and China, among others. Earlier this week, top Democrats on the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee raised concerns that Peru had backtracked on important labour commitments and asked Bush not to implement the agreement before he leaves office on Tuesday. But Republican lawmakers and business groups hailed Bush's decision to implement the pact, effective February Congress approved the free trade pact more than a year ago, but Bush was required to certify that Peru had fulfilled certain requirements before it could go into force. The deal locks in and expands Peru's duty-free access to the US that it has enjoyed since 1991 under a US trade preference program for the Andean region. In return, Peru immediately will eliminate duties on 80% of US industrial and consumer products, including mining, agricultural and construction equipment. Peru immediately will eliminate duties on more than two-third of US farm exports such as wheat, high quality beef, fruits and vegetables, and other processed foods. It also will open its services markets to US companies and boost intellectual property rights protections. Various environmental and development groups joined the AFL-CIO labour federation in a joint statement on Thursday urging the Bush administration not to certify the agreement "until it can be verified that all provisions to protect the environment, promote workers rights and ensure access to affordable medicines are in place." To get Bush's seal of approval before he leaves the White House, Peru's Congress rushed this week to approve temporary powers for the Peruvian government to quickly bring its regulatory standards into compliance with the trade pact. It also strengthened a law on protecting the Amazon rain forest to meet concerns raised by Washington.