On Monday Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism announced the Peru-Panama Free Trade Agreement, and the Commercial Agreement with Venezuela, would both go into effect this April.

Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade Carlos Posada said the Panama trade agreement had already been analyzed by his office, and the report was being sent to the Foreign Ministry.

Posada said the Foreign Ministry would evaluate the report, and then decide if the trade agreement would go to Congress, or if it would be approved by an executive decree.

"We believe, as the Ministry of Foreign Trade, that this agreement should not go to Congress because it is a free trade agreement that is very similar to others that did not go to Congress," he told Andina news agency.

He said the Foreign Ministry’s evaluation should not take more than a month, and expected the trade agreement to go into effect in the first or second week of April.

The trade agreement, Posada said, would strengthen trade with the Panamanian market, given that it would eliminate tariffs on over 95 percent of products.

"Panama serves as a hub in Central America and the presence of services and investments in Peru will be very important as a result of this treaty,” he said.