The Peruvian government said on Friday that its negotiations with the European Union (EU) on a free trade agreement (FTA) have been some 60 percent completed.

"We are satisfied with the progress that has been made to the date, but we can not say we are ready to end them (the talks) because we are still working," said Eduardo Brandes, Peru's chief negotiator.

The second round FTA negotiations between Peru, Colombia and Ecuador with the EU began on Monday, and it will end on Saturday. The negotiations are both multilateral and bilateral.

Brandes said that in the current round reasonable advances have been achieved.

He said that the talks on intellectual property and commerce are the ones with more difficulties to move ahead.

"The Andean countries (Colombia, Ecuador and Peru) together with the EU have the will to reach better achievements till June, if possible, and to finish the negotiation in that month," said the Peruvian negotiator.

Brandes also said that the EU, as an important partner for Peru, has contributed more than 50 percent of the direct foreign investment in Peru.

"It is also an important partner for us in foreign trade and that is the reason why Peru is highly interested in continuing these negotiations," Brandes said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 28, 2009)