Li's visit to Peru promotes bilateral cooperation: Chinese ambassador

LIMA - Sino-Peruvian relations are moving toward a new model of broad and extensive cooperation, with the upcoming visit of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to further strengthen the comprehensive strategic partnership, a Chinese diplomat said.

Li's visit, part of a four-nation Latin America tour, "is very important for the development of our bilateral ties," Chinese Ambassador to Peru Huang Minhui told Xinhua.

As the first visit of a Chinese head of government to Peru in 20 years, both China and Peru attach great importance to this visit, Huang said.

During Li's stay in Lima on May 22-24, he is expected to hold a private meeting with Peru's President Ollanta Humala, and attend a bilateral business forum.

The two leaders will preside over the signing of a series of important agreements between the two governments, government agencies and public and private sectors.

The agreements are expected to cover areas such as economic and technical assistance, industrial investment, infrastructure, the fight against poverty, natural disaster management, and technical and scientific exchange, Huang said.

Today, China and Peru maintain constant communication and complement their respective development strategies based on a win-win model of cooperation, the ambassador said.

Peru is rich in natural resources and biodiversity, and China's companies have a technical and financial edge, noted Huang, which is why cooperation has the potential to grow in the transformation of energy resources, processing and industrial manufacturing, infrastructure, telecommunications, agriculture and forestry, among other areas.

The two nations have worked shoulder to shoulder in various fields ever since Peru became the third Latin American country to establish diplomatic relations with China in November 1971, Huang said.

Ties between the two countries actually go back to the 17th century, Huang noted, when the famed Manila Galleon plied the Pacific Ocean trade route, connecting China and the Philippines in the east to Peru and Mexico in what became known as "the New World."

Later, starting in the mid-19th century, thousands of Chinese immigrants arrived in Peru to work in the guano industry, sugarcane and cotton plantations, and the construction of railways, leading to a cultural fusion that can still be seen today in Peruvian-Chinese cuisine.

After establishing a strategic partnership in 2008, the two nations went on to sign a free trade agreement that has contributed significantly to boosting two-way trade since it went into effect in 2010. Bilateral trade volume amounted to $14.3 billion in 2014.

In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Humala agreed to elevate relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership during the Peruvian president's visit to China.