China and Chile on Sunday signed a free trade deal covering services, opening up sectors from management consulting to sports and the environment for easier investment, China's commerce ministry said.

The deal, China's first with a Latin American country, could set the stage for similar agreements with other nations and help China boost its stunted service sector.

The pact expands a November 2005 agreement freeing up bilateral merchandise trade and aims to improve the two countries' competitive edge in global services, a statement on the Commerce Ministry's Web site (www.mofcom.gov.cn) said.

The deal, signed during a visit to Beijing by Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, covers 23 industries in China and 37 in Chile, and the two countries aim to bring it into force from the start of 2009.

Chile is a major supplier of copper and wine to China, while China sends computers, cars and electronic goods across the Pacific. Bilateral trade jumped 65 percent in 2007 to $14.7 billion, the ministry said.

China last Monday signed a free trade agreement with New Zealand, the first such treaty it had concluded with a developed economy.

As well as paving the way for increased two-way trade, the pact could be a spur to others negotiating deals with China, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said.

For a factbox on China's free trade agreements, please double-click on [ID:nSP74248] (Reporting by Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Alan Wheatley and Sami Aboudi)