Australia-Chile Free Trade Agreement Negotiations
Overview
On 27 May 2008, the Minister for Trade, Simon Crean, and the Chilean Foreign Minister, Alejandro Foxley, concluded the Australia-Chile Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations. It is expected that the FTA will be signed at the end of July 2008 with both sides aiming for entry into force of the Agreement on 1 January 2009. Australia has commenced the domestic processes to ratify the treaty. The FTA text was tabled in Parliament on 17 June 2008.
Background
On 8 December 2006, the Australian Government agreed in-principle to commence a bilateral negotiation process with Chile, with a view to developing a comprehensive FTA to strengthen and deepen the trade relationship. In the first half of 2007, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade conducted a series of consultations with Australian industry, state and territory governments and other interested stakeholders to assess barriers to trade with Chile that could be addressed by a free trade agreement. Australian officials also met with Chilean officials to determine the scope for achieving a comprehensive, fully liberalising FTA.
On 17 July 2008 Australia agreed to enter into FTA negotiations with Chile. Four negotiating rounds were held between August 2007 and April 2008 along with two intersessional meetings in March 2008 to progress the negotiations in particular areas. Negotiations were concluded by Ministers on 27 May 2008.
Agreement summary
Full text of the Agreement
- Full text of the Agreement
- Tariff Schedule of Australia (PDF)
- Tariff Schedule of Chile (PDF)
- Schedule of Product Specific Rules (PDF)
Further information
Email: chile.submissions@dfat.gov.au
Or Contact:
Director, Canada and Latin America Section
Americas Division
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Tel: (02) 6261 3904
Other resources
Doing Business in Chile
For more information on doing business in Chile and about specific export opportunities, go to the Austrade website. As well as country-specific information, the Austrade website also has a database that can be searched by industry.