Presidents Piñera and Temer sign Chile-Brazil Free Trade Agreement
On Wednesday, President Piñera received Brazilian President Michel Temer, with whom he signed a Free Trade Agreement that promotes electronic trade, trade in services, participation by Chilean companies in public procurements in Brazil and the elimination of roaming charges, among other business matters.
On Wednesday, President Sebastián Piñera received an official visit from his Brazilian counterpart, Michel Temer, with whom he signed a Free Trade Agreement that will deepen trade between the countries.
“This agreement goes beyond the strictly economic. It also seeks to bring our countries closer together and to integrate them from the perspective of culture, political collaboration and solving and addressing problems,” said President Piñera in a joint statement with President Temer at La Moneda Palace.
“Brazil is more than our foremost trading partner, with trade exceeding US$11 billion. It is also the main market for Chilean investments, which are valued at more than US$31 billion. This Free Trade Agreement is intended to expand trade in goods and services, as well as integration. As such, it is an important new step forward in this relationship,” added President Piñera, who received the Brazilian President with honors, followed by an audience and lunch.
The Free Trade Agreement addresses telecommunications, electronic trade, services, environment, employment and gender, as well as economic cooperation.
The agreement will benefit small- and medium-sized enterprises, which will now be able to participate in public tender processes in Brazil under the same conditions as local suppliers. Furthermore, it will facilitate operations for Chilean service providers and digital products in bilateral electronic trade.
In telecommunications, roaming charges will be eliminated once the agreement has been in effect for two years.
“The agreement includes new chapters on technology, cybersecurity, Antarctic collaboration, and on many areas where we have made progress, including our countries’ firm will to unite the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, going through Paraguay and Argentina to connect Porto Murtinho with ports in northern Chile,” said President Piñera.
Brazil is Chile’s foremost trading partner in Latin America and trade grew by 21% to US$6.808 billion between January and August this year.
It is also the primary destination for Chilean direct investment abroad and a key market for Chilean SMEs.
With this new agreement, President Piñera has further strengthened Chile’s 64-country Free Trade Agreement network by adding a potential market of 4.5 billion people.