Interview: Xi's Peru visit a milestone in bilateral relations, says ambassador

Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Peru is set to deepen political mutual trust, consolidate the traditional friendship between the two countries and mark a new milestone in the development of bilateral relations, said Chinese Ambassador to Peru Jia Guide.

Xi arrived in Peru on Friday to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting and pay a state visit to the Latin American country.

Jia noted that this year is the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Peru. Over the years, thanks to joint efforts, China-Peru relations have embarked on the track of rapid and stable development, with remarkable achievements in various fields of cooperation.

Political trust between the two countries is solid, said the ambassador. In recent years, the two countries have witnessed frequent high-level visits that helped deepen political mutual trust and improve cooperation mechanisms.

The two countries treat each other with respect and maintained close communication in international affairs, said Jia, adding that the two sides have also maintained close coordination in multilateral frameworks such as the United Nations and APEC.

Noting that Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski visited China in September, his first trip abroad after taking office, Jia said that the exchange of visits between the two heads of state within three months fully reflects the height of political mutual trust between the two sides.

China is Peru's largest trading partner, biggest export destination, and Peru is among the first countries to conduct production capacity cooperation with China, said Jia.

The ambassador also said that mutual investment has also grown. Major projects in energy and mining have been pushed forward steadily while pragmatic cooperation has been extended to fields such as infrastructure and manufacturing. Chinese mobile phones, cars, construction machinery are popular in Peru, and Peru's avocados, grapes, and alpaca products are attracting a growing number of Chinese consumers.

Cultural exchanges between the two countries are also productive, said Jia. Both China and Peru have a long history and splendid culture and their exchanges in education, culture, science and technology, sports and other areas have become increasingly active.

Four Confucius Institutes in Peru have triggered a fever to learn the Chinese language. In November, a series of activities marking the end of the China-Latin America and Caribbean Year of Cultural Exchange will be held in Peru.

Regarding their cooperation potential, Jia said that the two countries are highly complementary and that both countries are at a crucial stage of economic transformation and industrial upgrading.

Jia said that Peru is diversifying production and accelerating the process of industrialization while China's abundant production capacity offers great potential to promote cooperation in such fields as infrastructure, energy, mining, and manufacturing.

"We (China and Peru) should make full use of the complementarity to strengthen strategic cooperation, promote the alignment of development strategies and push forward production capacity cooperation, and upgrade the free-trade arrangements. We should build our cooperation as a model of cooperation between emerging economies and of South-South cooperation," said Jia.

Peru's strong economic growth, improving legal and investment environment have attracted many Chinese enterprises in recent years. The new Peruvian government led by President Kuczynski has made it clear that it attaches great importance to developing relations with China.

Jia said that China is willing to step up technology transfer to Peru to help it increase added value of its exports and better integrate into the global value chain.

Jia added that China and Peru have great potential in cultural cooperation as well. Peru hopes that the number of foreign visitors to the country will double in five years while more and more Chinese visitors want to visit Peru's Machu Picchu and buy its local specialties. Not long ago, the Peruvian government granted a conditional visa waiver for Chinese citizens, which will promote people-to-people exchanges and trade and investment cooperation between the two countries. Endi