Chile hails China as its top trade partner

Chile hails China as its top trade partner
Source: Xinhua 2016-03-22 12:38:48

SANTIAGO, March 21 (Xinhua) -- China now is Chile's leading trade partner, with their bilateral trade volume having grown fourfold in the past decade, local media reported on Monday.

"In 2015, Chilean exports to China amounted to 16.671 billion U.S. dollars, while imports totaled 14.8 billion dollars," El Mercurio, a Chilean local daily, said.

In 10 years, "the trade volume between the two countries has grown fourfold from 8.122 billion dollars in 2005 -- the year before a free trade agreement (FTA) went into effect -- to 31.471 billion dollars in 2015," it said, adding that "this figure represents 25 percent of Chile's foreign trade."

The average trade balance over this period has been about 4.234 billion dollars.

Juan Esteban Musalem, president of the Chile-China Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, told the daily that the FTA between Chile and China has been one of the "great milestones" in their bilateral ties.

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