After all legal proceedings were completed, the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Chile and Thailand came into force last Thursday, 5 November, as reported by the General Directorate of International Economic Relations (Direcon).
"Over more than two decades of international expansion, Chile has developed a rapprochement strategy with the Asia-Pacific region," said the CEO of Direcon, Andrés Rebolledo.
He also noted that the FTA, which is the fourth agreement reached with an ASEAN member state, will grant the South American country access to a market with 68 million people.
According to Rebolledo, the new trade agreement is "a modern treaty" that affects important areas, such as services, and entails the commitment to start negotiations for investments within two years.
The official also stressed that it is the only agreement with an ASEAN country that has no products excluded, which means "all of Chile's exporters will benefit from it."
The FTA will provide immediate preferential access to more than 90% of products in bilateral trade. Among the main Chilean products that will benefit from zero tariffs are copper cathodes, frozen trout, molybdenum concentrates, lithium carbonate, bovine meat, pork, lamb and poultry, condensed milk, cheese, nuts, avocados, raisins, tomato paste, gearboxes for automobiles, wood products, paper and cardboard.
Meanwhile, some of the Thai products reaching Chile with zero tariffs include oil, natural gas, vans, cars, canned tuna, digital cameras and canned pineapple. Meanwhile, Direcon confirmed that some of the products with tax relief within three years are apples, cherries, kiwis and blueberries.
Chile is currently Thailand's third largest trading partner in South America, behind Brazil and Argentina, while Thailand is Chile's largest commercial partner amongst ASEAN countries, with more than 1,000 million dollars in trade in 2014.
Source: marcotradenews.com