Peru to have free trade pact with India

Peru will be the first South American country to sign a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India in the course of the next two to three years. Peru will also henceforth export gold to India directly and not through Europe anymore, Peru Ambassador to India, Jose J G Betancourt, has said.

Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru on Monday, Betancourt, who is visiting Bengaluru and Karnataka for the first time after assuming ambassadorship two months ago, said Peru will be looking to the FTA to bolster trade and investment.

“No other country in South America will be having a comprehensive FTA like ours. We are working on the FTA now and under that, we would like trade to go up, flow of goods and services, and movement of people between the two countries to increase. We would also be looking at cultural and heritage ties apart from economic and trade ties.”

The Ambassador appreciated the fact that big Indian companies like Tata and Mahindra were already operating in Peru and said he was looking forward to more joint ventures in the private sectors of both countries.

He said henceforth gold would be exported to India directly and not through the European market, where a lot of taxes have to be paid.

“We have decided to ship gold to India directly and not go through Europe anymore. This will benefit ties between us,” he said.

He said Peru is supporting India’s fight at the Paris Climate Change summit to get the richer countries to pay more to reduce greenhouse emissions and make more sacrifices. Peru will be part of what is called the International Solar Initiative that has been initiated by India.

“Like India, we believe the 21st century is the century of renewable energy and we would like to invest highly in solar and wind projects. We want more solar business firms from India to come to Peru and we want more solar plants and parks in Peru.

Annemeade from the Peruvian Embassy and Vikram Viswanath, Peru Consul in Bengaluru, explained the benefits of Indo-Peruvian ties in economic, and trade and tourism sectors.