In June 2002 the People's Republic of China proposed to Chile that the two countries initiate negotiations towards a free trade agreement. They undertook a formal feasibility study in April 2004, which endorsed the idea of a Chile-China free trade agreement. Negotiations were officially announced on 23 April 2004. On 18 November 2004, at the APEC meeting, the launch of the negotiations was announced.
The first round of negotiations was held in Beijing, China on 25-27 January 2005. The second round was held in Santiago, Chile on 27-29 April. The third round took place 28-30 June in Wuxi, China. The fourth round was held in Santiago between 12-16 September, and the final round of negotiations took place in Beijing between 24 and 28 October 2005.
The free trade agreement was signed on 18 November 2005. A memorandum of understanding on labour and social security cooperation was signed earlier, on 2 November.
The agreement passed through the Chilean Parliament in August 2006 and was signed by the Chilean President. The agreement is to enter into force approximately sixty days afterwards, on 1 October 2006.
In September 2006 the President of Chile announced that a new phase of negotiations would begin, with the objective of broadening the agreement and expanding it to cover the areas of services and investment. On 24 March 2008, after six rounds of negotiations, Chile and China ended technical negotiations to incoporate trade in services to the Chile-China FTA already in force.
In keeping with Article 108 of the FTA, Chile and China signed an agreement on environmnental protection on 20 September 2007.
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