Thailand and Peru will sign a pre-free trade agreement this week under which thousands of goods can be traded tariff-free, a Thai government spokesman said on Wednesday.
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“It is the early harvest programme like we have done with India and China because we wanted to cut import tariffs to boost trade. In the meantime we will continue FTA negotiations,” Surapong Suebwonglee told Reuters.
Under the deal, import tariffs on around 5,000 goods traded between the two countries would be cut to 0% from the current 12%, he said.
The pre-FTA pact was scheduled to be signed by the trade ministers of the two countries on Saturday during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in the South Korean city of Pusan and take effect on July 1, he added.
Goods which will be entitled to zero tariffs include pick up trucks for which Thailand has become a production centre for Japanese brands.
Thailand and Peru agreed in October 2002 to negotiate an FTA which expected to be sealed by the end of next year.
Trade between the two countries is worth around $78.1 million per annum, but that figure was expected to increase by at least 40% next year, supported by the pre-FTA scheme, a Commerce Ministry official told Reuters.
