The Office of the United States Trade Representative

Chile and the United States Agree on Further Rounds of FTA Negotiations
Contact: Richard Mills (202) 395-3230 01/25/2002


The chief negotiators of the Free Trade Agreement between Chile and the United States scheduled two new meetings for March and April 2002. This agreement was reached at the end of the 10th Round of Negotiations held between January 22 and 25, in Santiago.

The Chilean delegation was led by the Director General of International Economic Relations (DIRECON) and Chief Negotiator, Osvaldo Rosales, while the United States team was led by the Assistant USTR for the Americas and Chief Negotiator, Regina Vargo.

At the March Round, which will be held again in Santiago, the negotiators will concentrate on those issues that have not been addressed in detail in the previous rounds, while in April, in the United States, the agenda will include the whole range of negotiating issues.

Between January and March, several groups will meet and others will hold videoconferences. This modality will continue until the April meeting, in order to proceed to a timely end of negotiations.

During this week, the parties met to address the following issues: market access, antidumping, services, investment, financial services, e-commerce, intellectual property rights, government procurement, dispute settlement and institutional issues. Labor, environmental issues, sanitary and phytosanitary as well as customs procedures were addressed in videoconferences.

Both negotiating teams are working to meet the agenda both Governments have set for the timely and successful conclusion of the negotiations, acknowledging that the FTA will be a strong positive signal of support for free trade and economic reform in the region.