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India, Peru Bilateral trade Touches $190 mn

New Delhi, November 21, 2006

Peru expects to sign a commercial agreement with India in the near future which will boost trade between the two countries in areas such as mining, steel and iron ore, ships and engines, textiles and pharmaceuticals, said Vice President, Peru-India Chambers of Commerce, Marco Hurtado, at a Buyer-Seller meet on Peru- India: Project Partnerships – Opportunities in Trade & Investment, organized by the CII.

Peru is a good investment destination for India in these areas because the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) it has with the United States provides a platform for Indian investors to export to the US, Hurtado said. “Several products exported to US at zero percent duty under the FTA.” The US is one of the largest investors in Peru.

Mining is one area where Peru is keen to attract investments. Small and medium industries in the mining sector are looking for investments from overseas. “Technology and capacity built up by India in the past few years have proved to be of great advantage to Peruvian investors,” Mr. Hurtado said.

India needs to be more aggressive in their investments in Peru, he said. The country has succeeded in promoting pharmaceutical products from India and would like to replicate this success for other sectors.

Peru is also attractive for investments because of its steady economic growth, said Charge d’ affairs, Embassy of Peru, India, Victor Munoz. The country has maintained a growth of six percent for several years. It has great mineral reserves and good potential in telecommunications and energy which will further enhance the trade relations between the two countries.

Bilateral trade between India and Peru has shown a quantum growth from $82 million in 2001 to $190 million in 2005, he added. “We need to build up and integrated approach in our investments and partnership.”

Joint Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, R Viswanathan said there are opportunities for both the countries in signing up joint ventures in areas such as mining, metallic industry and oil. “Peru provides a huge market of over 25 million people with $73 billion GDP.”

Exports from Peru touched $17 billion and imports $12.5 billion in 2005. Mining constitutes more than half of Peruvian exports. Copper, natural gas, gold, zinc, silver, iron and petroleum are major natural resources of Peru, Mr. Viswanathan added.

Currently they are known around 70 places where iron deposits exist, of which deposits of 14 areas are potentially important because of their dimensions and the volume of mineral that contains. The mineral reserves that can be considered as proven are of the order of 750 million metric tonnes, whereas possible reserves on the basis of superficial recognitions of their dimensions exceed 4,000 million MT.

Chairman, Bharat Earth Movers Ltd, V R S Natarajan said the two countries are exploring possibilities of cooperation in areas like IT, defence and handicrafts. India also offers around 10 ITEC scholarships.

Also present at the meeting to meet the delegation and share his views on Peru India trade relations, was

A Ramesh, Indian Ambassador designate to Peru and Bolivia.

Peru would like to import IT and IT culture, skill development, jewellery and jewellery designing from India, he said. India’s total trade with Peru increased from $63 million in 2001-02 to more than $1 billion in 2005-06. India exports a wide range of goods to Peru like drugs and pharmaceuticals, organic and inorganic chemicals, two-wheelers and three wheelers, automobile parts, rubber tyres, yarns, textile and readymade garments, electrical and other machinery, iron and steel products, he added.

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