Speaking on the occasion of Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski's first meeting with recently-elected counterpart Emmanuel Macron, French Ambassador to Lima Fabrice Mauriès addressed progress made and challenges ahead in bilateral terms.
"We are proud and satisfied with President Kuczynski's choice of France as his first European Union destination," the Ambassador told El Peruano official gazette.
Peru - OECD
In this respect, he affirmed the statesman's presence in France will also serve to promote and present the Inca nation's growth achievements, as well as pending matters and other issues.
Similarly, the foreign affairs official assured Peru is "well on track" towards OECD accession, a major goal prioritized by the Kuczynski administration.
"We see clear mobilization of [State] Ministries to identify subjects to work on and increase
OECD accession chances."
Trade and investments
As for Peru and France's economic relation, Mauriès explained that, although it did not grow as much as expected in recent years,
ties saw major successes in terms of commerce and investments.
In the case of the former, he noted Peru-France bilateral trade "totaled close to US$900 million in 2016," but warned said 8% rise "is still not enough."
Regarding the latter, the Ambassador underlined greater progress was made in investments, and particularly in the energy sector with the presence of Engie (electric power), Perenco (hydrocarbons) and Vinci (transport).
In addition, Mauriès observed, French enterprises have expressed a clear interest in investing more in the Andean country, whether in government projects or in those transferred by different owners.
In this sense, he anticipated French companies would likely engage in some of the infrastructure ventures that will change hands in the wake of the
Lava Jato case.
(END) DOP/MVF/CCR/DHT/MVB