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Peru to wrap US free-trade deal next month
10/13/2005
LIMA, Peru, Oct 12 (Reuters): Peru's president said yesterday a free-trade deal with the United States was nearly complete and he hoped to seal it with US President George W Bush next month in Argentina.
"On November 4, we are going to have a meeting with President Bush ... at the Summit of the Americas and I hope there to have the handshake that signifies the conclusion of negotiations," President Alejandro Toledo told Peruvian radio from Brussels, Belgium.
Peru, Colombia and Ecuador have been negotiating a free-trade pact with the United States since May 2004, though Ecuador has lagged because of political problems.
Peru and Colombia, which hold elections in April and May, see the deal as a boost for their export-led economies and want it in the bag by November.
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