An Indo-Chile Preferential Trade Agreement has been validated in New Delhi following a visit from Chilean President, Michelle Bachelet. Both parties have also issued customs notifications.

The PTA establishes tariff concessions ranging from 10-50% on 178 tariff lines at the eight-digit level to Chile and a similar range of tariff concessions on 296 tariff lines at the eight-digit level to India.

Tariff concessions offered by Chile include leather products, footwear, textiles and clothing and rubber and miscellaneous chemicals. Tariff concessions offered by India also include leather products and chemicals.

Chile has been India’s major Latin American trading partner having shown a rapid increase in bilateral trade from $163.7 million in 1996-97 to $582.6 million in 2005-06. The PTA is expected to improve trade between the two nations even further.