LatinNews Daily - 14 December 2023

*Chile and the European Union (EU) have signed an advanced framework agreement and interim trade agreement as they move closer to launching their modernised free trade agreement. Chile’s Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren signed the agreements with the EU’s commissioner for trade, Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU high representative for foreign affairs, Josep Borrell, and Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, in Brussels. On social media, Van Klaveren said the agreements represented “a new milestone in our foreign policy” and “a demonstration of Chile’s commitment to economic, environmental and gender issues, among others”. According to an EU statement, the agreements will facilitate cooperation between the EU and Chile on the de-risking of supply chains, the securing of a sustainable supply of critical raw materials, and addressing climate change. The agreements are the result of negotiations that began in 2017 to modernise the association agreement that Chile and the EU entered into in 2002, which included a free trade agreement that began in 2003. The parties reached the political conclusion of the negotiations in December 2022, with the signing of the agreements in Brussels representing the next step.  The new agreements will now be submitted to the European Parliament. Once the parliament gives it consent, the European Council can adopt the decisions to conclude the agreements. Parts of the advanced framework agreement will come into provisional application (pending ratification by all EU member states), while the interim trade agreement will come into force when Chile’s congress concludes its ratification procedure. The interim agreement allows for an early entry into force of the modernised trade rules and will expire automatically once the advanced framework agreement is launched.