The United States and Peru have wrapped up their negotiations and reached a free trade agreement, US Trade Representative Rob Portman announced Wednesday.

"An agreement with Peru is a key building block in our strategy to advance free trade within our hemisphere," said Portman in a statement. "We hope to later bring in the other Andean countries including Colombia and Ecuador."

In addition to eliminating tariffs, Peru will remove barriers to trade in services, and provide a secure legal framework for US investors operating in Peru and an effective system to settle trade disputes, US trade officials said.

The agreement needs to be ratified by Congress before it takes effect.

Trade between Peru and the United States in 2004 totaled 5.8 billion dollars, according to the statement.

The Bush administration has completed similar agreements with Australia, Bahrain, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Morocco, Nicaragua, Oman and Singapore.

Source: Xinhua