Interview: Chinese president's speech at APEC CEO Summit warmly welcomed -- Peruvian business leader

Chinese President Xi Jinping's keynote address at the 2016 APEC CEO Summit in Lima, Peru on Saturday has been warmly received by business leaders attending the summit, said the president of the Lima Chamber of Commerce.

"The president of China made an extraordinary speech today. He laid out the bases for the future growth of the world economy," Mario Mongilardi told Xinhua in an interview.

According to the business executive, Xi sent an encouraging message to the business communities of the 21 APEC members.

"It was made clear that China's program of reforms will allow the participation of foreign companies in the Chinese market," said Mongilardi.

Mongilardi said the highlights of the speech include the continued opening of the Chinese market, offering other APEC members potential access to over 1.3 billion consumers.

"He also announced that China would reach out to the world with very important investments and open its market up to foreign investments. It fills us with optimism to see that China, one of the world powers, believes in the market, believes in competition...as a mechanism for development," he noted.

Mongilardi said the business people in the forum's audience highly valued the participation of the Chinese leader.

Mongilardi also said China's global imports will continue to have an important impact on the world in the coming years.

"(Xi) mentioned some numbers, such as China desires to buy 8 trillion U.S. dollars (of goods) from the world over the next five years. This is a huge number which will allow trade to be boosted around the world," he said.

Mongilardi also said the Belt and Road Initiative could be a powerful driver for global growth. "This initiative seeks to provide a boost and bring progress. When trade is boosted, as a consequence, the countries which are part of this initiative will see further development."

He added that the Belt and Road Initiative and the commercial openness it brings would benefit the Andean countries. "In reality, having access to an open market the size of China will make it easier for more Peruvian companies to place their products in the Chinese market," he said.

Bilateral trade between China and Peru has risen rapidly since a free-trade agreement between the two took effect in 2010, hitting a record level of nearly 15 billion U.S. dollars in 2015.

Peru hopes that more of its value-added products could enter its export basket.

Peru is optimistic that China will further open its market to the Peruvian people, said Mongilardi.

"Peru will participate in every way as China is our main trading partner and our main foreign investor. It is the main player in Peru's mining industry. Consequently, we cannot be outside the commercial initiatives of our main commercial partner," he noted. Endi