Peruvian Foreign Affairs Minister Ana Cecilia Gervasi,
Deputy Mines Minister Jaime Chavez Riva, and
U.S. Ambassador to Peru Lisa Kenna signed the Approval Act of the 2023-2024 Action Plan to continue with the implementation of the "Memorandum of Understanding between the Republic of Peru and the United States of America on cooperation in small-scale gold mining," inked on February 16, 2017.
The memorandum involves five areas of cooperation: protecting human health and the environment; increasing transparency in the gold supply and trading chain; promoting economic development alternatives in areas where mining is prohibited; effectively preventing, investigating, and prosecuting crimes associated with illegal gold mining and related trade; plus, preventing and stopping the invasion of illegal mining in prohibited areas.
At the ceremony, Minister Gervasi explained that the aforementioned 2023-2024 Action Plan details the activities that Peru will carry out unilaterally or jointly with the U.S. Embassy in each of the cooperation areas of this MoU.
The Peruvian official added that the indicators and milestones included will make it possible to evaluate the results at the end of the term next year.
"We are confident that its implementation will contribute to strengthening the capacities of the Government of Peru to ensure that artisanal and small-scale gold mining is a responsible activity, free of contamination, unrelated to crime, and that it contributes to the development and prosperity of the country and its population," she pointed out.
Furthermore, Gervasi stated that the aforementioned 2023-2024 Action Plan —the fourth of its kind since the signing of the MoU— is the result of the effort made by the
Permanent Multisectoral Commission to follow up on the Government's actions against illegal mining and the development of the formalization process, with the decisive support from the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the
Embassy of the United States.
"Among the various issues on the extensive bilateral agenda, Peru and the United States agree on the importance of defending the environment and the need to confront the crimes that affect it, including its biological diversity and its communities," Gervasi pointed out.
In his capacity as chairman of said commission, Deputy Mines Minister Jaime Chavez Riva participated in the signing ceremony held at Torre Tagle Palace in Lima on Wednesday.
(END) NDP/RMB/MVB
Published: 8/24/2023