LIMA - The sixth meeting of the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Commission (Commission) convened in Lima, Peru on February 15, 2024, marking the 15th anniversary of entry into force of the United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA). The Commission is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Agreement. Assistant United States Trade Representative for the Western Hemisphere, Daniel Watson, led the United States delegation, and Director General of International Trade Negotiations, Jose Luis Castillo, led the Peruvian delegation. The following Joint Statement highlights the results of the meeting.
Committee and Council Meetings
The Commission received reports on the meetings of the Environmental Affairs Council (EAC), the Forest Sector Governance Sub-Committee, the Environmental Cooperation Commission (ECC), the Technical Barriers to Trade Committee, the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, and the Committee on Trade in Goods – Rules of Origin and Customs Administration and Trade Facilitation. Both sides commended the open public session after the meeting of the EAC, Forest Sector Governance Sub-Committee and ECC, established in the Environmental Chapter and the United States – Peru Environmental Cooperation Agreement (ECA), in order to have an opportunity to meet with the public to discuss matters related to the implementation of the Environment Chapter and the ECA. Parties consider such open dialogues important to strengthening communication and transparency between the Parties and relevant stakeholders.
Implementation Issues
The United States and Peru reaffirmed the importance of effectively implementing the Labor Chapter of the PTPA and discussed next steps for a Labor Affairs Council meeting. Regarding the 2015 labor submission filed under the Labor Chapter, the United States shared the status of the review and Peru provided additional updates. Both parties agree that there is space to deepen cooperation on labor issues.
Both sides shared their respective efforts to ensure full implementation of the obligations of the PTPA Environment Chapter and Annex on Forest Sector Governance, including strengthening of environmental protections and respective efforts to achieve climate change objectives such as through encouraging more resource efficient and circular economies. The EAC also received updates from the Secretariat on Environmental Enforcement Matters, an essential transparency mechanism established under the Environment Chapter. During the Forest Sector Governance Sub-Committee meeting, the Parties discussed recent amendments to Peru’s Wildlife and Forestry Law.
The United States and Peru also agreed to work on addressing PTPA implementation issues in Peru in the area of intellectual property.
Bilateral Issues and Cooperation
The United States and Peru shared views on facilitating access for Peruvian asparagus without fumigation, facilitating access for Peruvian aguaymanto into the United States, facilitating access of U.S. mixed meat products in Peru, and issues related to agricultural biotechnology and electronic commerce.
Several areas for joint cooperation were discussed, including on food safety regulations and topics related to trade and the environment such as climate change, illegal logging, and environmental justice.
Next Steps
The two sides worked to develop trade-neutral changes to the FTA Specific Rules of Origin that will be aligned with the adjustments resulting from the Harmonized System 2022. The Parties aim to implement the revised rules on January 1, 2025.
The technical experts on Customs Administration and Trade Facilitation agreed to launch one working group to study information request procedures and exchange experience on customs and agree to exchange experiences on customs and border operation best practices.
Labor experts agreed to exchange information to address issues raised by the PTPA labor submission and committed to convene a Labor Affairs Council later this year to explore opportunities for further cooperation.
Cooperation in other Fora
The United States and Peru reiterated their commitment to multilateral trade cooperation and regional economic integration.
Under the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) framework, the U.S. and Peru will work in the APEC Subcommittee on Standards and Conformance (SCSC) to conduct workshops on women in standardization and bilateral and regional FTA technical barriers to trade commitments. APEC Good Regulatory Practices (GRP) projects will also continue, including a soon to be tabled project proposal by Peru, the annual GRP workshop, and continuation of a bilateral GRP project. Finally, the two sides would like to highlight the work within the Food Safety Cooperation Forum (FSCF) framework and projects that could be carried out in the aforementioned Forum.
Both sides took note of the successful first meeting of the Council on Trade and Competitiveness under the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity (Americas Partnership), which took place in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on February 12-13, 2024, and stressed the importance of making progress this year to implement the guidance of Partnership Leaders in the East Room Declaration, issued in November 2023.
Lastly, cooperation at the World Trade Organization (WTO) was highlighted throughout the meeting, including with respect to the 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13), the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade’s 10th Triennial Review, its Transparency Working Group model comment project, and the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies.
The Commission agreed to hold its next meeting in Washington, D.C.
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