The Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur), Juan Carlos Mathews, stated that Peru is one of the most open economies in Latin America, having Free Trade Agreements (FTA) in force with 22 countries, within the framework of his presentation of advances in state policies and actions for the reactivation of its sector in the Foreign Trade and Tourism Commission of the Congress of the Republic.
With this, he said, more than 90% of the total of what Peru exports and imports is made with countries with which it has an FTA. Likewise, he noted that the country is in an advanced negotiation process with Hong Kong, the next round of which will take place in October.
On the other hand, Mincetur has been resuming negotiations with India, as was made public this year, the Vice Minister of Foreign Trade, Teresa Mera, was invited by that government.
“There has been quite favorable news. This could mean, in terms of even deadlines for next year, having quite interesting news regarding an economy that is already reaching, if not already surpassing, mainland China in population,” Mathews said.
Meanwhile, he reported that with Indonesia they have formalized the start of negotiations that would take place before the end of the year, starting with a virtual round.
“In addition to some negotiations with Central America that are not minor and that, for many MSEs, end up being the main market”, he added
Espacio de negociación multilateral
Mathews noted that Peru's participation in the Pacific Alliance (PA) is not only about promoting bilateral trade, but also about establishing global value chains to sell to larger markets, such as the Asian market itself which, for Peru, It is a relevant market and it is not so relevant for the rest of the AP countries.
“It is encouraging news not only for commerce and negotiation but for the tourist flow. Next year we will be in the world's spotlight. As the Port of Chancay phase is about to be completed, we are planning the official visit of the Chinese president,” he added.
Turism
The minister acknowledged that we have not yet reached pre-pandemic figures in terms of inbound tourism, which was 4.4 million per year. However, 2023 will close with a growth of 10% compared to 2022. Thus, it is expected to receive 2.2 million foreign tourists.
“It is spectacular growth in a fairly complex scenario for the country. The start of the year was quite hard due to the protests, dengue fever, Cyclone Yaku, the warnings in the issuing countries that stopped the flow of tourism here and the announcement of El Niño is not good news either,” he highlighted.
Regarding domestic tourism measured by number of trips, he stated that before the pandemic there were 48 million trips per year and, considering all the variables, it is projected to exceed 34 million this 2023, a growth of 23%, “relevant for a scenario with the complications we have had,” he added.
