WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The U.S. and Peru will sign a free-trade agreement Wednesday, the U.S. Trade Representative's Office said in a statement Tuesday.

Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo and Foreign Trade and Tourism Minister Alfredo Ferrero Diez Canseco will join U.S. Trade Representative Robert Portman in a signing ceremony in Washington, USTR said.

In January, USTR notified Congress that it had completed negotiations on a bilateral trade agreement with Peru, triggering a 90-day waiting period before the deal could be signed. It will then await approval from the two nations' legislatures.

Portman, eager to avoid the problems that the Central American trade agreement encountered, has been meeting with U.S. lawmakers to gauge support for the deal. Democrats have urged tougher provisions on labor standards.

Portman has said he is hopeful Congress will approve the deal later this year.

Toledo, speaking Tuesday on CPN radio, said many Peruvian lawmakers have taken part in negotiations and he expects his nation's Congress to approve the deal.

The Peru agreement - along with one negotiated with Columbia in February and a potential deal with Ecuador - would make up part of a broader U.S.-Andean Free Trade Agreement.

However, negotiations between the U.S. and Ecuador have moved more slowly, largely because of disagreements on agriculture.

Last week, Ecuadorean Trade Minister Jorge Illingworth said trade negotiations in Washington had narrowed the gap over agriculture issues. Illingworth said he expected talks to resume in May.

-By Elizabeth Price, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9295; Elizabeth.Price@ dowjones.com

( Robert Kozak in Lima contributed to this report.) (END) Dow Jones Newswires 04-11-06 1711ET Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.