Taking EU-Peru Trade Relations To The Next Level – Speech
By: Eurasia Review
By Karel De Gucht, European Commissioner for Trade
Ladies and gentlemen,
We are together this morning at a very important moment for the relationship between Peru and the European Union.
In June of this year we signed a ground-breaking free trade agreement between the European Union, Peru, and Columbia. When approved, it will deliver very significant benefits to all three partners.
Peru
It will also lay the groundwork for closer cooperation between the European Union and Peru on a range of global issues.
It is very important that we all do our utmost over the coming weeks, months and years to make sure that we bring the agreement into force, take full advantage of its provisions and use it as a springboard for that closer relationship.
I would like to briefly address each of these steps with you this morning before we spend some time discussing your concerns. But let me first give you a short summary of the case for this deal:
First, economics.
Once the agreement is fully in place, we can expect substantial benefits in terms of growth and jobs.
Market opening is always a powerful driver of economic growth.
That is because it acts in two ways at the same time.
It stimulates demand by providing access to new customers. In Europe, for instance, 30 million jobs across our economy depend on exports.
But open trade also acts on the supply side of the economy. Today’s global economy is highly integrated, based on long and truly global value chains. In this context imports – whether of components or raw materials – are vital to companies’ ability to compete.
What is more, imports create a more competitive marketplace – meaning businesses have to raise their game if they want to keep playing. That means they are more competitive on international markets. In our own experience in the EU we have seen that a 1% increase in economic openness translates into a 0.6% increase in productivity.
