May 31, 2008	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 25, 1429

SINGAPORE, May 30: Singapore and Peru have signed a free trade agreement, the city-state’s trade ministry said on Friday.

Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry, Lim Hng Kiang, and Peru’s Minister for Foreign Trade and Tourism, Mercedes Araoz, inked the deal in Lima on Thursday, a statement from Singapore’s trade ministry said.

Negotiations for the deal began in November 2004 and concluded last September.

When the agreement takes effect at an unspecified date this year, more than 80 per cent of Singapore’s domestic exports will be eligible for immediate tariff elimination, with the rest to follow over 10 years, the statement said.—AFP