BANGKOK, Aug. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Thailand and Peru have agreed to cut import tariffs on at least 3,000 products in their negotiations for bilateral free trade area (FTA) agreement, according to trade negotiators.

    The two countries still need to iron out several important issues such as setting up timeframe for the elimination of tariffson goods, services, investment as well as for products deemed "sensitive."

    Earlier, a ten-year term was agreed on concerning the removal of import taxes.

    As for "sensitive" products, Peru puts rice and sugar on top ofthe list while Thailand says local fishermen need additional protection.

    "Though the import tariff on rice and sugar is not relatively high at about 20 percent, we need longer transitional periods for them," Peru's Vice-Minister of Foreign Trade Pablo de la Flor Pablo, who also led the country's negotiating team, was quoted by the newspaper Bangkok Post as saying on Monday.

    Thailand plans to use Peru as the gateway to Latin America and Peru hopes the agreement with Thailand will give it a better foothold in Southeast Asia.

    Due to the distance between Thailand and Peru, their current bilateral trade is at a very low level.

    In the first half of this year, shipments from Thailand to Perutotaled 15.2 million US dollars, up 60 percent from the same period last year, while imports to Thailand from Peru reached 27.3million US dollars, obtaining an increase of 63 percent.

    Washing and drying machines and parts, vehicles and parts, plastic pellets, micro-wave ovens, clothing and rubber are main export goods of Thailand. The country imports from Peru such majoritems as minerals, animal-based fat and oil, fresh and frozen cuttlefish, chemical and precious stones, gold and silver.

    The Thai government has been actively reached out for FTA talkswith various countries including China, India, the United States and Japan. In early July, Thailand signed its first FTA with Australia, which will come into effect on Jan. 1, 2005. Enditem