Foreign Minister Ampuero signs trade agreement with Brazil and highlights President Temer's announcement to benefit Chilean pensioners

Foreign Minister Roberto Ampuero and his Brazilian counterpart, Aloysio Nunes, today signed the Free Trade Agreement between the two nations.

The signing followed a meeting between President Sebastián Piñera and Brazilian President Michel Temer. "We are very happy to have signed this agreement with Brazil because it will allow us to modernize the existing trade relationship, through the incorporation of new disciplines such as telecommunications, electronic commerce, trade in services, environment, gender, SMEs and public procurement among others," said Foreign Minister Ampuero.

This new Agreement aims to modernize the commercial relationship between Brazil and Chile by incorporating new disciplines such as Telecommunications, Electronic Commerce, Trade in Services, Environment, Gender, SMEs, Public Procurement, among others.

In the area of SMEs, the agreement contemplates the creation of a MSMEs Committee, composed of government representatives from both countries, which will be in charge of promoting and monitoring the agreed activities.

Another benefit will be electronic commerce, which will seek to facilitate trade and improve the conditions in which Chilean service providers and digital products operate in the Brazilian market. In that sense, they agreed to eliminate the obligation for foreign companies to occupy national servers to operate in electronic commerce, which will save operating costs.

This agreement will also open the doors to Chilean companies to be part of Brazil's public procurement system. This will be a unique opportunity for Chilean suppliers to participate in public bids in Brazil under common and equal rules with respect to local suppliers.

One of the most concrete benefits will be the elimination of roaming between the two countries, allowing a local tariff to be established for call, mobile data and text messaging services by telecommunications providers in both Brazil and Chile.

In addition, it includes a chapter dedicated to trade and gender, whose objective is to make women, entrepreneurs and businesswomen visible and their participation in the economy, while recognizing the contribution they make to sustainable development.

Chancellor Ampuero also appreciated the announcement made by President Temer during the ceremony in La Moneda about the 25% tax reduction that you currently charge Brazil and affects Chileans who worked in that country but who, after retiring, now receive their pension in Chile. This measure would benefit around 350 Chileans in this situation.

"I want to highlight this announcement, which means a very concrete benefit for a large group of Chileans," said the minister.