Qatar's ruler brings delegation to Peru

The Emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, arrived in Lima on 13 February, heading a senior delegation that would discuss trade and investment with senior officials including President Ollanta Humala, the website peru21 reported. The foreign ministry earlier described the visit as among the "auspicious results" of the summit of Arab and Latin American states held in Lima in October 2012. The government newspaper El Peruano stated in an opinion piece on 14 February that Peru signed in October 2012 a framework agreement on trade and cooperation with the Gulf Cooperation Council including oil-producing Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf. Qatar it observed had billions of dollars to invest in "safe markets with a stable and reliable economy like that of Peru" while Peru needed markets for exportations, particularly of food and farming products needed by Qatar, a state with little agriculture and much expendable income. This was reportedly the first state visit to Peru by a head of state from the Arabian peninsula, according to El Peruano. The Emir was also to visit Colombia and Ecuador.

Pacific block to lift tariffs on most goods

Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico, member states of the Pacific Alliance trading block, were to agree before 31 March on removing tariffs on 90 per cent of their traded products and gradually reduce tariffs on remaining goods and services after that, Chile's President Sebastian Piñera announced in Santiago de Chile on 27 January. The four states' presidents were attending the summit of Latin American States and the EU (Cumbre Celac-EU) concluding that day. The states were also to set rules to define the origins of traded products and regulate access to their markets and investment flows. Piñera said the block was the "most important and profound integration process in Latin American history." The annual value of exportations was placed at USD 500 billion and the four countries currently provided a market of some 215 million people, the website peru21 reported. The Alliance formed in 2011, is to hold a summit in Cali in 2014. Beside the four members several states have the status of Observers; Costa Rica was reportedly to become the next member. Separately Colombia and Peru signed a free trade agreement with the European Union expected to enter into force in the first half of 2013, Peru21 reported. This has been ratified in Peru and is to be ratified in Colombia.

European officials visit Peru for business

Peru's President Ollanta Humala Tasso received European delegations in Lima on 24 January including Spain's Prime Minister, presenting his increasingly prosperous country as a stable setting for more investments, El Peruano reported. The newspaper noted that Spain is the premier foreign investor in Peru with investments worth some USD five billion, but was also a market in 2011 that received over USD two billion's worth of Peruvian exports. Spain was currently in recession with just under six million Spaniards unemployed. At a press conference Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy urged Peruvian businessmen to "explore" Spain for business opportunities, Europa Press reported. El Peruano cited a study by the Andean Parliament indicating that currently 40 per cent of Peruvians living in Madrid wished to return home and 36 per cent were unemployed, without specifying how many they were. The study estimated 130,000 Peruvians lived in Spain. The European Commission's Vice-President for Industry and Enterprise Antonio Tajani was also in Lima that day, heading a delegation of representatives of some 40 EU firms visiting Peru and Chile on 22-26 January. The trip was to help EU firms expand their activities into emerging markets like Peru. After a meeting at the foreign ministry, Tajani said the EU considered Peru as "one of the most important" of countries for its lack of protectionism and the legal security of investments.