The governments of Brazil and Peru signed on Friday a bilateral agreement on government procurement, governmental news agency reported.

The Agreement on Economic and Commercial Expansion is Brazil's first international deal involving government procurement, according to Agencia Brasil.

Under the terms of the agreement, Peruvian companies will be allowed to participate in public bidding processes in Brazil and vice-versa.

Peru used to charge a deposit of at least five percent of the money involved in contracts from Brazilian companies for them to participate in public bidding processes in Peru. Now Brazilian companies do not have to pay this deposit, and will be able to participate in biddings in several sectors, such as tourism, transportation, entertainment and engineering.

The two Latin American countries agreed to allow such biddings to proceed in a non-discriminative manner. If there is a dispute, the two sides should resort to arbitration to solve the problem.

The two governments also signed agreements on tax cut in trade of light vehicles.

Source: XINHUA