China and Chile reached consensus on a number of issues during the third round of talks concerning the establishment of a free trade area between the two countries, the Ministry of Commerce said here Thursday.

China and Chile held the third round of FTA talks in Wuxi city, east China's Jiangsu Province from June 28 to 30, and discussed a wide range of issues in an in-depth manner, an statement issued by the Information Office of the ministry said.

The talks were mainly about commodities trade, including mode of tariffs reduction, inventory of goods, rules of origin, laws and trade rescue.

Officials from China's Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, State Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture, General Administration of Customs and General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Chilean President Ricardo Lagos Escobar jointly announced the beginning of the FTA talks last November on the sideline of the APEC leaders' informal meeting.

The two leaders held two round of talks in January and April respectively in Beijing and Santiago.

China-Chile trade grew vigorously over the past several years. From 2000 to 2004, China's exports to Chile surged 22 percent annually and its imports from Chile 42 percent per year. Two-way trade reached 5.4 billion US dollars in 2004.

China mainly exported textile goods and garments, high-tech goods, footwear and toys to Chile, and its imports from Chile covered largely copper and copper ore, paper pulp, fish meal, iron ore and niter.

China and Chile have also had close cooperation in areas of shipping, garments and chemical industry.

Source: Xinhua