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Pacific Alliance, Latin American bloc agrees on free trade zone
11.02.2014 08:02 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) —
The Pacific Alliance, a Latin American trade bloc linking Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, voted Monday to abolish tariffs on the majority of trade between the four countries, Voice of Russia reports referring to DPA.
The countries leaders agreed on the deal during a summit of the Pacific Alliance in the Colombian city of Cartagena.
The trade agreement eliminates tariffs on 92 per cent of the products traded between the countries. The remaining 8 per cent, which is mainly agricultural products, are to be brought into the pact in stages over the next 17 years, according to a protocol signed by presidents Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia, Sebastian Pinera of Chile, Enrique Pena Nieto of Mexico and Ollanta Humala of Peru.
Only tariffs on sugar will remain excluded from the free trade treaty.
The date that the deal comes into force will depend on its ratification by the parliaments of the four countries.
The president of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, signed an agreement during the summit under which her country will enter the alliance by 2015.
The Pacific Alliance was created in 2012 to build a free trade zone and a visa-free travel area. The alliance currently represents 35 per cent of Latin Americas gross domestic product.
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