WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG269/M/1 
1 October 2010 
 (10-4997) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Fifty-eighth Session  
 
 
 
CONSIDERATION OF THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN  
PERU AND SINGAPORE, GOODS AND SERVICES 
 
Note on the Meeting of 27-28 September 2010  
 
Chairman:  Mr A. Suescum (Panama) 
 
 
1. The meeting was convened in document WT O/AIR/3598/Rev.1, dated 17 September 2010. 
2. Under Agenda Item C.II of its 58th Session, the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
(hereinafter CRTA or the Committee) considered  the Free Trade Agreement between Peru and 
Singapore (hereinafter the 'Agreement'), goods and services.  
3. The Chairman  noted that the Agreement had ente red into force on 1 August 2009 and had 
been notified by the Parties to the WTO on 30 Ju ly 2009 under Article XXIV:7(a) of the GATT 1994 
and the Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XXIV of GATT 1994 as an Agreement 
establishing a free trade area (document WT/REG269/ N/1) and under GATS Article V:7(a) as an 
Agreement providing for the liberalization of trade in services within the meaning of GATS Article V 
(document S/C/N/502).  The text of the Agreement w as available, together with its Annexes, on the 
Parties' official websites.  The Factual Presentation on the goods and services aspects (document 
WT/REG269/1, dated 20 July 2010) had been prepared  by the Secretariat on its own responsibility in 
full consultation with the Parties, in accordance w ith paragraph 7(b) of the Transparency Mechanism 
(TM) for Regional Trade Agreements (document WT/L/671).  In addition, written questions and 
replies on the Agreement had been recently distributed in document WT/REG269/2, dated 
20 September 2010.  He proposed to organize the c onsideration of the Agreement by first asking the 
Parties and then other Members for general comm ents.  The Committee would then turn to the 
specifics of the Agreement using the Factual Presen tation to guide the debate.  He proposed to go 
through the Factual Presentation section by section,  and then look at the questions and replies 
document.  
4. The representative of Peru  thanked the Secretariat for the Factual Presentation, which 
provided an informative and extensive general visi on of the Agreement, Ambassador Karen Tan, the 
officials from the Permanent Mission of Singapor e and other members of the delegation who had 
collaborated closely with Peru in the preparation fo r the meeting.  He also thanked Members for their 
interest and questions.  He hoped that the cons ideration exercise would allow Members to better 
understand the terms of the Agreement.  Peru we lcomed the opportunity for the Agreement with 
Singapore to be reviewed and, since it was the firs t of Peru's agreements to be considered by the 
Committee, underlined its commitment to the WTO Transparency Mechanism for RTAs and to the 
work of the Committee to improve understanding of those agreements.  The Agreement was the 
corollary of increasingly close trade relations, frie ndship and cooperation between the two countries.  
He highlighted Peru’s particular interest in consolidating economic ties with Singapore through the 
Agreement. Both countries were open, free market economies and considered trade as a vital tool for 
development and for improving standards of living and reducing poverty.  In Peru’s experience, the 
principle aspects of its economic policy, which had as one of its bases the opening of markets, had WT/REG269/M/1 
Page 2  
 
  greatly contributed to economic growth.  Over the la st eight years, Peru had demonstrated sustained 
growth of around, on average, more than 6% an nually, which had continued in 2009 despite the 
international financial economic crisis.  The exp ected forecast for growth in 2010 was around 8%, as 
announced by the President of Peru, Alan Garcia Perez, in his statement during the United Nations 
High-Level Session on the Millennium Development Goal s, with a projection of 5% in 2011.  In 
Peru's view, these policies had not only made possi ble solid and sustained economic growth but had 
also been key for the attainment of important soci al progress.  Peru had successfully reduced the level 
of extreme poverty from 24% in 2002 to 11.5% in 2009, becoming one of the few countries which had managed to fulfil one of the principal Millenni um Development Goals before the 2015 deadline.  
Chronic malnutrition had been reduced by 4% si nce 2005, dropping from 22.9% in 2005 to 18.3% in 
2009.  In relation to health services, over five year s the proportion of population with access to health 
insurance had increased by nearly 20%.  In 2004, only 36% of the population had access to health 
insurance, while in 2009 the figure increased to 54. 3%.  He then passed the floor to his colleague, 
Mrs. Victoria Elmore, National Director of Multila teral Affairs and International Trade Negotiations 
of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism,  who spoke about Peru’s trade policy and the 
importance of the Agreement in that regard.   
5. She remarked that, according to its three Trade Policy Reviews, Peru's trade policy objective 
was to contribute towards the creation of the necess ary conditions to ensure sustainable growth and 
the modernization of its economy, by increasing its e fficiency and productivity so as to ensure better 
competitiveness.  Peruvian trade policy of openness a nd liberalization was dire cted towards achieving 
a better inclusion into the world economy, so as to benefit from specialization of international market 
with the final aim of reducing poverty and incr easing the wellbeing of population through formal and 
decent employment with appropriate incomes.  As a GATT Contracting Party since 1951 and founding Member of the WTO since 1995, Peru reiterated its commitment to the multilateral trading system and emphasized that, in its trade polic y, bilateral and regional dimensions were 
complementary to the multilateral trading system and,  therefore, they must abide by high standards 
and use WTO provisions and principles.  For Peru , bilateral and regional trade agreements were 
important factors that contributed to the dynamism of Peruvian exports into the world market and its 
economic growth.  Moreover, they had helped to consolidate duty-free access in Peru's main trade 
partners, with greater incidence on non-traditional secto rs, to establish stable and predictable rules to 
attract investments and improve bilateral trade relations.  Trade agreements had also contributed towards developing a diversified exporting sector , both for goods and services, and improving the 
efficiency and productivity of domestic industries through access to cheaper imports of inputs, 
technology and capital goods which were required to ensure compe titiveness and specialization.  As 
regards international trade, she pointed out the sust ainable growth of Peruvian exports and the fact 
that over the last eight years Peru had managed to  have a trade surplus, reaching US$6 billion in  
2009.  In this context, the Agreement with Singapor e was extremely important for Peru as it was its 
first agreement with an Asian country and would strengthen trade relations with this continent, 
especially because Singapore represented one of the most relevant business centres in the region and 
was a world leader of trade in goods, services, t echnology and investment.  The Agreement had been 
designed with the objectives of strengthening bilatera l economic links between the Parties, as well as 
with other economies in the Asia-Pacific region;  to promote open, transparent and competitive 
markets which would give greater impetus to econo mic efficiency, innovation, creation of wealth and 
consumers' wellbeing;  and to r eaffirm the objective of consolidat ing and supporting the multilateral 
trading system, as well as the objectives of free and open trade and investment as established in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.  From Peru's point of view, the Agreement met 
all requirements to be fully compatible with WT O principles, in particular GATT Article XXIV and 
GATS Article V, including the requirement to  cove r "substantially all trade" .  As a comprehensive 
Agreement, it not only covered market access for goods  and services, but also included high standard 
provisions on rules, which had been developed to  facilitate trade in goods, services and investments 
and provide greater predictability and clear rules for the Parties' economic agents.  The Agreement 
included a Chapter on government procurement, whereb y the Parties had agreed to open their markets  WT/REG269/M/1 
 Page 3 
 
 
  so as to maximize competition for their suppliers and reduce the costs of doing business both for 
governments and companies.  Although the Agreement did not have a specific chapter on intellectual 
property rights, the Parties had agreed to exte nd their obligations under the TRIPS Agreement to 
geographical indications of Peru "Pisco", "White Giant Cusco Mais" and "Chulucanas" ceramics, which would be protected as such in Singapore in acc ordance with its national legislation.  During the 
period 2005-2009, exports from Peru to Singapore had gr own substantially, in particular with respect 
to non-traditional exports of textiles and agricultu ral products.  In December 2009, Singapore was the 
main source of foreign direct investment from As ia into Peru, reaching almost US$400 million.  In 
her view, this demonstrated the existence of strong  bilateral trade relations that would be further 
improved through the Agreement.   
6. The representative of Singapore
 was grateful for the opportunity to have the Agreement with 
Peru presented to WTO Members.  She thanked th e Secretariat for having prepared the Factual 
Presentation, Members for their interest and Ambassador Rojas, Dr. Elmore and the Peruvian delegation for their close cooperation and comprehe nsive opening statements.  Singapore and Peru 
had launched negotiations on 19 November 2004, at the sidelines of the APEC Leaders’ Economic 
Meeting in Santiago, Chile.  Negotiations had l asted about three years and were concluded in 
September 2007.  On 29 May 2008, the Agreemen t was signed in Lima, Peru, by Singapore’s 
Minister for Trade and Industry, Mr. Lim Hng Kia ng, and Peru’s Minister for Foreign Trade and 
Tourism, Ms. Mercedes Araoz.  It had entered into  force on 1 August 2009.  With bilateral economic 
relations having grown trem endously over the last few years, th e Agreement was a testament to, and a 
foreshadow of, continuously increasing economic links .  Bilateral trade flows had been on a constant 
rise, being valued at over US$20 million in 2003 an d had increased to about US$45 million in 2009.  
Over this period, Singapore’s exports to Peru had increased by over 44%, and imports from Peru by 
over 300%.  Investment flows had mirrored this trend,  with Singapore’s FDI inflow into Peru at over 
US$145 million at end-2008.  She was confident that , with the benefit of the Agreement, economic 
relations would continue to flourish and the potenti al for even more enhanced trade and investment 
flows would be realised.  She remarked that th e Agreement was broad-based and comprehensive, 
covering trade in goods;  rules of origin;  trade re medies;  SPS and TBT measures;  trade in services;  
investment;  government procurement;  customs procedures;  temporary entry of persons;  
competition;  institutional provisions;  and dispute settlement.  The Chapter on trade in goods covered 
100% of bilateral trade;  over 80% of Singapore’s total exports to Peru ha d benefited from duty-free 
treatment immediately upon entry into force of the Agreement and an a dditional 8% would be 
liberalized over five years.  The remaining 10% would have duties reduced and eliminated over ten 
years.  For Peru, since Singapore had bound all tariffs at 0% from the entry into force of the Agreement, all imports into Singapore were guara nteed duty-free entry.  The Chapter on cross-border 
trade in services bound the parties to current levels of  liberalisation and any future liberalisation in 
most services sectors.  It took the "negative-list" approach, which started from the premise that all 
sectors were open, except for those measures or sect ors which had been expressly reserved, providing 
clarity to businesses and service suppliers who were keen to enter the markets.  The Chapter on 
services went beyond market access commitm ents, with disciplines on non-discrimination, 
transparency and other services-trade rules.  An important objective of the Agreement was 
strengthening trade facilitation;  to this e nd, the Chapters on TBT and SPS measures enhanced 
cooperation and improved transparency, by provid ing a framework to address potential barriers to 
trade posed by standards and technical regulations.   The Chapter on customs procedures also required 
transparency in regulations to give traders full information of the customs requirements and 
procedures in the Parties.  The Chapter on investme nt aimed to foster an open environment for cross-
border investment, by providing market access, mini mising restrictions and strengthening investment 
protection, covering the entire lifespan of investme nts from pre-establishment to sale.  It was also 
based on the "negative-list" approach, applying to investments in all sectors unless otherwise listed in 
the reservations annexes or excluded under the Artic le on Scope and Coverage.  In committed sectors, 
a Singaporean investor in Peru was guaranteed tr eatment no less favourable than that accorded to 
local investors by both central and regional levels of  the Peruvian government, and vice versa.  In the WT/REG269/M/1 
Page 4  
 
  area of competition policy, the Parties had rec ognised the importance of enhanced cooperation and 
coordination on competition law and policy development;  in this r espect, the Chapter on competition 
policy was aimed at curtailing anti-competitive business practices and encouraging cooperation 
between the Parties' competition authorities.  In he r delegation's view, the value of the Agreement was 
of great significance;  it was the cornerstone of Si ngapore's economic relations with Peru, providing 
businesses enhanced access to its market and with a solid platform for regular dialogue.  The 
Agreement was Singapore’s second agreement with a Latin American country, after that with 
Panama, which had come into force in 2006, and it allowed Singapore to leverage on their respective 
strengths and reach more deeply into the Latin Amer ican and Asian markets.  By deepening bilateral 
economic relations, the Agreement was also a build ing block towards increased engagement between 
Latin America and Asia-Pacific, a pertinent el ement going forward, as Peru and Singapore had 
engaged in negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement with the United States, 
Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Viet Nam and Brune i.  She reiterated Singapore’s commitment to the 
WTO's principles and provisions, with highest priority to the multilateral trading system embodied by the WTO, and considered bilateral and regional a rrangements as building blocks that complemented 
the multilateral process.  In conclusion, she was happ y to work with Peru on answering questions that 
Members might have. 
7. The representative of the United States
 thanked the Secretariat, Peru and Singapore for the 
hard work in having put together the Factual Pr esentation and appreciated the written responses to her 
delegation's specific questions on services.  She sa id that, by the time the Agreement was fully 
implemented, the Parties would have eliminated duties on 100% of their tariff lines.  She commended 
the Parties, and particularly Peru, for having made such commitments.  
8. The representative of the European Union  said that, according to Table V.2 of the Factual 
Presentation, Peru still needed to notify the Secr etariat of five RTAs and asked whether it was 
preparing such notifications.  She also remarked  that Peru had two agreements with MERCOSUR, 
one as part of the Andean Community, in force since 2005, and the other as an individual Member, in 
force since 2006, and asked Peru to elaborate on the rationale for maintaining two agreements.   The 
representative of Peru  said that the partial scope agreements concluded by Peru in the framework of 
the Latin American Integration Association (LAI A) had not been notified to the WTO under the 
Transparency Mechanism.  However, WTO Members had been informed of the conclusions of these 
RTAs in biennials reports presented to the Committe e on Trade and Development.  At present, LAIA 
Members were considering whether to notify each ag reement individually.  With respect to the two 
agreements with MERCOSUR, she said that ther e was a mistake in Table V.2 of the Factual 
Presentation, since the only agreement between Peru and MERCOSUR was the ACE No 58, concluded on 30 November 2005.  The other Ag reement, ACE No 56, between the Andean 
Community and MERCOSUR included only Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela.  The representative 
of the European Union
 thanked Peru for the reply and reminded Members of the importance of 
notifying partial scope agreements c oncluded in the framework of LAIA. 
9. The Chairman  noted that the consideration of the go ods and services aspects of the Free Trade 
Agreement between Peru and Singapor e had allowed the Committee to clarify a number of questions 
and oral discussion of the Agreement could be co ncluded in accordance with paragraph 11 of the 
Transparency Mechanism.  If any delegations wished  to ask follow-up questions they were invited to 
forward submissions in writing to the Secretariat by 5 October 2010  and the Parties were asked to 
submit replies  in writing by no later than 19 October 201 0.  In accordance with paragraph 13 of the 
Transparency Mechanism all written submissions , as well as minutes of this meeting would be 
circulated promptly, in all WTO official la nguages, and would be made available on the 
WTO website. 
10. The Committee took note  of the comments made. 
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