Brazil, Peru sign first international agreement on government procurement

Brazil and Peru signed this Friday (Apr. 29) an Economic and Trade Expansion Agreement, including government procurement, services, and investment. This is Brazil's first international agreement involving government procurement.

Under the agreement, signed in Lima, with Brazil's ministers Armando Monteiro, minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade,  and Mauro Vieira, minister of Foreign Affairs, Peruvian procurement of goods and services will be open to Brazilian companies and vice versa. The agreement also puts an end to the requirement to make a deposit of no less than 5% of the financial contracting capacity for Brazilian companies to bid on Peruvian government procurement.

For investments, there is a new guarantee for non-discriminatory treatment, for preventing disputes, and for arbitration mechanism. They have also provided for cooperation agendas with areas that have potential to improve the business environment. For services, the Brazilian service providers may take part in sectors like information and communication technology, tourism, transport, engineering, architecture, and entertainment.

Brazil and Peru have also brought forward the date and formalized the elimination of tariff for trade on light vehicles and pickup trucks. The measure has been worked towards in a previous agreement, but it was supposed to be implemented only in 2019.

Translated by Amarílis Anchieta