Peruvian president hails China-Peru trading partnership

World Today

Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has hailed the country’s friendly relations with China, saying that the current bilateral cooperation in multiple sectors including mining and transportation is progressing.

CCTV’s Christy Scull reports from Lima.

The meeting was the second time the President Kuczynski and President Xi have met. The Peruvian president, who was sworn in in July, made his first visit abroad—the destination, instead of a Latin American nation, was China. President Kuczynski said China’s remarkable economic achievements could provide a lesson for his country.

“China is the first country that I visited as the president of Peru. I had very effective talks with President Xi Jinping in Beijing. We discussed cooperation in mining. There are a lot of investments from China in Peru’s mining sector. We also discussed development of transportation and tourism in the future. We will make further progress in these areas in coming years,” President Kuczynski said.

China is Peru’s largest trade partner. Data from China’s Ministry of Commerce shows the trade volume between the two countries hit 14.5 billion U.S. dollars last year. Peru is one of China’s major partners for industrial capacity cooperation, and President Kuczynski says there are even greater potentials for cooperation.

“We hope to tap into new markets in China, especially for agriculture. We are also interested in cooperations on science and technology. Furthermore, cultural exchanges and cooperation in archaeology and climate change are also very important for us,” President Kuczynski said.

Kuczynski also says Peru looks forward to overcoming challenges that lie ahead and strengthening relations with China.

“I think the meeting with President Xi is very significant, especially when the global economic landscape has been changed and multiple uncertainties remain. And apparently that will be a very important topic for the APEC meeting,” the Peruvian president said.

After a visit to Ecuador, President Xi Jinping is now in Peru’s capital Lima for a state visit and attendance at the APEC meeting. He will travel to Chile afterwards to end his tour in Latin America.