President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Ladies and gentlemen,
This visit by the Peruvian head of state to Russia is the first such event at this level in the 140 years of our bilateral relations and the 45 years of diplomatic relations between our countries. We are marking both of these anniversaries this year.
The talks with President Humala were constructive and friendly in spirit. I am sure that the agreements reached will give a big impetus to developing our bilateral ties.
We discussed current bilateral and international matters and outlined our plans for further developing our political dialogue and our partnership in all areas.
We paid great attention to the matter of expanding our trade and economic cooperation. We have already achieved some results in this area. Our bilateral trade has increased 2.5-fold over the last 5 years. Mr Humala and I think that it should be possible to double our reciprocal trade over the coming years. This requires us to improve the quality of our trade ties’ structure and encourage investment flows. Let me note that new opportunities are opening up now for increasing supplies of seafood, fruit, fish and other agricultural goods from Peru.
We instructed our intergovernmental commission to be more active in promoting big projects in promising areas such as mining, the energy sector, the automotive industry, and air and rail transport.
We have already made some good progress in developing natural resources. A Peruvian business with Russian capital is involved in copper mining in Ica Department in Peru. They are using the very latest environmental standards. The importance that both countries place on environmental protection is reflected in the agreement on cooperation in this area that we signed today.
Our countries also have big plans for industrial cooperation. Our KAMAZ company is taking part in setting up a joint venture for bus assembly. AvtoVAZ has good positions on the Peruvian market and exports the Lada car there. Russian Helicopters is selling Mi and Ka helicopters in Peru, and United Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation is holding talks on supplying aircraft for civil aviation.
Power Machines company has presented interesting proposals for turnkey supply of equipment for several Peruvian hydroelectric plants. Inter RAO is studying the opportunities for joining projects to build new power stations. We are also ready to make available our experience and modern technology for plans to develop nuclear energy, nuclear science and medicine in Peru.
We see good prospects in telecommunications and space exploration, including satellite communications and navigation. Russian specialists took part in placing in orbit in August this year Peru’s first micro-satellite, Chasqui-1. Two more small satellites are also in the plans.
Russian companies are developing 4G broadband mobile internet in Peru and we are studying the possibilities for joint use of Russia’s global navigation system, GLONASS.
Our bilateral humanitarian exchanges are developing rapidly. We make 30 scholarships available every year for Peruvian citizens to study in Russian universities. We currently have 117 Peruvian students studying free of charge in Russia.
Tours by performers from the St Petersburg State Ballet on Ice, Rosgostsirk (Russian State Circus Company) performers and other groups were a great success in Peru. The exhibition 1,000 Years of Inca Gold met with great interest in its turn from people here.
Our countries have had visa-free travel since 2011. This helps to develop our humanitarian contacts and business ties. We would like to develop tourism too. The agreement on cooperation in this sector will give a good boost to this work, I hope.
We also discussed international matters during our talks. With the APEC summit coming up soon in Beijing, we discussed Russia and Peru’s cooperation within this forum. Russia is interested in working together with integration organisations in the Latin American region.
I am happy to say that our exchange of views confirmed our close positions on many of the most important issues on the global agenda. Taking this into account, we agreed to coordinate more closely our efforts on the international stage.
We discussed our work together on combating drug trafficking. We have a base for this work. Russian specialists are holding open courses for drugs control police from South America in Peru’s capital, Lima. 115 people from 9 different countries have already completed the courses.
I want to conclude by assessing these talks very highly. They demonstrated our mutual desire to continue developing our bilateral relations and our dialogue at all levels.
I want to thank Mr Humala and his entire representative team for the work today and for all we have accomplished to develop our cooperation over this last period.
Thank you for your attention.