Peru deepens trade ties with China

José Tam, president of the Peru-China Chamber of Commerce, told Chinese news agency Xinhua that economic ties are deepening between Peru and China. According to the report, Chinese companies are responsible for 33% of Peru’s mining production and have invested $19 billion in the country’s mining industry.

Although the trade is dominated by the mining industry, Peru exports a variety of different products to China in addition to the raw metals, including agricultural goods like avocadoes, mangos, and alpaca wool. Trade in 2014 between Peru and China rose to $15.87 billion.

In mining-related news, Peruvian president Ollanta Humala announced in the Peruvian city of Puno the formation of “a bilateral agency [between Peru and Bolivia] that benefits the border regions of our countries,” focusing on the issues of decontaminating Lake Titicaca, mining formalization, and combatting illegal mining.

Lastly, the Peruvian vice minister for environmental management told reporters that the Minamata Convention is a very useful tool for reducing the pollution caused by mercury use in illegal mining, and will carry health and environmental benefits for Peru. He added that, “Peru is preparing to assume the benefits that the Minamata Convention will bring and take advantage of the opportunities for cooperation, technical exchange, and financial assistance, that ratifying the convention will bring.”