The Government of China is pleased and ready to further strengthen ties with Peru as it considers new investment opportunities in various fields in the Inca country, the Asian Giant's Ambassador to Lima Jia Guide affirmed.
In an interview with El Peruano official gazette, the Chinese envoy addressed the countries' comprehensive strategic partnership, on excellent footing after close to 50 years of diplomatic relations.
"Last year, Presidents Pedro Pablo Kuczynski of Peru and Xi Jinping of China paid mutual visits in a little over two months, an unprecedented event and a milestone in the development of [bilateral] ties," the Ambassador underlined.
In addition to broad agreement in terms of deepening friendship, such visits fostered dialogue, cooperation, as well as the horizons to further develop bilateral relations, he explained.
To remain in this line, Peru and China need —in the first place— to "turn on the new engine, which is cooperation in productive capacity."
In this sense, Ambassador Jia assured China would continue encouraging top-tier companies to invest in Peru, thus "serving as [growth] engine for traditional sectors like mining, hydrocarbons and infrastructure, while creating new growth drivers in fields like environmental protection, renewable energies and information connectivity."
"Secondly, we must speed up trade cooperation, trying to optimize the bilateral free trade agreement […] and third, we must continue to strengthen humanistic and cultural exchange, focusing on education, technology, sanitation and tourism cooperation," he pointed out.
Investments
On the other hand, the foreign affairs official addressed China's investments in the Inca nation, which have so far centered on mining projects.
As is known, there were more than 170 Chinese companies operating in Peru as at 2016, with investments totaling US$18 billion.
In this respect, the diplomat stressed China's intention to "actively expand" Peru-based investments into other fields like real estate, telecommunications and agriculture.
"Both leaders' mutual visits last year translated into a greater boost to bilateral investments. A large number of Chinese companies are closely following Peru's major infrastructure ventures related to hydrography, ports, railroads, highways […]."
Similarly, the Ambassador highlighted the countries' complementarity in infrastructure, pointing to "great cooperation potential" in this respect.
China in Peru's reconstruction
The envoy affirmed his country is willing to cooperate with Peru's post-disaster reconstruction process to rebuild and restore infrastructure damaged by "Coastal El Niño" phenomenon floods and landslides earlier this year.
In this regard, he noted the Chinese Government is "exploring cooperation [alternatives] with its Peruvian counterpart in natural disaster monitoring and control, reconstruction planning and human resource training."
"A lot of Chinese companies have focused their attention on [Peru's] infrastructure projects like bridges, highways, water works and housing, to be executed in [disaster] hit areas," he concluded.
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