China, Peru sign free trade agreement
Beijing - China and Peru on Tuesday signed a free trade agreement (FTA) that the Chinese government hailed as an 'important signal' of closer international cooperation amid the global financial crisis. 'With the global financial crisis looming, the China-Peru deal sends a positive message of deepening cooperation and tiding over difficulties,' state media quoted Chinese Commerce Ministry official Zhu Hong as saying. Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping and his Peruvian counterpart, Luis Giampietri Rojas, attended the signing ceremony in Beijing, both calling the deal 'a new landmark' for bilateral ties, the Commerce Ministry reported on its website. The trade pact is China's second with a Latin American nation after the signing of a similar deal with Chile in November 2005. 'The China-Peru FTA is a comprehensive deal, covering goods, service, investment and other fields while the accord with Chile deals with goods only,' the official Xinhua news agency ...