SANTIAGO, July 30 (Xinhua) - Chile and Australia signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on Wednesday, which is regarded as "exemplary" of both countries, according to information from Canberra, Australia.

    Chilean Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley and his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith said that the FTA will boost bilateral trade and investment. The agreement will slash the current fees between both countries by 97 percent, and eliminate the fees altogether in 2015.

    Foxley, who is on an official visit to Australia said that the FTA is the most advanced one compared with the other five similar agreements Chile has reached with Australia.

    "What is here is a society to work together, specially to face those gigantic markets of Asia Pacific," Foxley said.

    Bilateral business cooperation will help the wine industry of the two economies to enter the Chinese market, Foxley said.

    Meanwhile, 400 scholarships have been set up for Chilean college students and technicians in 57 Australian universities, plus another 500 scholarships for college students pursuing graduate studies. Foley described this as a great advance.

    Although Australia and Chile are rivals in some sectors like mining, both countries strongly support the liberalization and the commercial reform in the bilateral and regional cooperation.

    The FTA between Chile and Australia will help increase bilateral trade, which in 2007 reached 500 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 50 percent from the 2006 figure.