Delegates from Chile and China wrapped up their fourth round of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations on Friday after making important progress and will meet again in October to continue the talks.

The two sides reached agreements on issues concerning animal and plant quarantine and technical barriers to trade, and meanwhile made substantial progress in talks on market access, rules of origin, trade relief, mechanisms for solving commercial disputes and legal issues, the Chinese delegation said in a communique.

After five days of hard work, significant headway was made in this round of negotiations, the communique said.

The Chinese delegation headed by Assistant Commerce Minister Yi Xiaozhun started the fourth round of FTA talks with the Chilean delegation headed by Carlos Furche, Director of International Economic Relations of the Foreign Ministry on Monday.

The FTA talks were launched last November by Chinese President Hu Jintao and Chilean President Ricardo Lagos Escobar on the sidelines of an informal meeting of APEC leaders.

Experts believe that an FTA between Chile and China would provide a strong incentive for Chilean goods to be exported to the Chinese market. According to official statistics, Chilean exports to China in 2004 reached 3.2 billion US dollars, while so far this year, they have surpassed 2.18 billion dollars.

The next round of talks will take place in late October in the Chinese capital of Beijing.

Source: Xinhua