“Peru is one of our strongest and most reliable partners in the hemisphere. We have a strong commercial and trading relationship. We cooperate on a wide range of security issues, including our counter-narcotics efforts. And we spent most of our discussion focused on how we can further deepen this important bilateral relationship.
I want to congratulate President Humala on being able to sustain strong growth rates in Peru, and his focus on broad-based economic growth that includes all people. As a consequence, Peru has been able to see not only increased growth but also reduced poverty and steps to reduce inequality.
For both the United States and Peru, growth is also dependent on our continued expansion in the global marketplace, and that’s why I’m very glad that Peru and the United States are working so closely together in finalizing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which offers the possibility of opening up markets throughout the Asia Pacific region with high standards and protections for labor and the environment.
We’ve also agreed to a number of bilateral programs that will strengthen our cooperation. For example, as part of my 100,000 Strong in the Americas program, we’re going to deepen education exchange programs between our two countries, and we’re also focusing on how we work together to include small businesses and medium-sized businesses in a hemisphere-wide network that allows those businesses to access markets throughout the region.
And we also talked about how we can deepen at a strategic level our work together to continue to combat the scourge of transnational drug networks that have an adverse impact not only in Peru, but throughout the region.
So overall, the state of our relationship is very strong. I think it will become even stronger as a result of some of the initiatives that we have shaped in this meeting. And I’m very glad that President Humala was able to visit us. I also wish the Peruvian soccer team the best of luck this evening.”
Full text: http://1.usa.gov/169P4Cs
Joint Statement between the United States and Peru: http://1.usa.gov/18tC5zH
Fact Sheet: U.S. – Peru Economic Relations: http://1.usa.gov/13yT9gT
Kat Has A Blog 