Andina reported that this week, Sergey Lavrov, Russia's Foreign Minister, would be officially visiting Peru, Eda Rivas Franchini, Peru's Minister of Foreign Affairs, declared that the Andean country was interested in expanding and diversifying their export supply as well as having a free trade agreement with Russia.
"Our goal is to expand and diversify our export supply, particularly non- traditional products, and promote investment in general," said Rivas Franchini. She also stated that, "in this sense, we have proposed a free trade agreement to the Russian Federation."
Both the Peruvian official and the Russian Foreign Minister agreed that their governments were "interested in deepening bilateral relations, particularly in economic, trade and customs, until they reached a trade agreement."
"Peru and the Russian Federation have many common interests," said Rivas Franchini, "thus, a Peruvian minister will be travelling soon to Moscow to address these issues."
According to Andina, the Russian Peruvian Cooperation Joint Commission will be meeting in Moscow this year. Peruvian entrepreneurs are also expected to attend the Russian Latin American Trade Cooperation Forum, which will also be held this year in Moscow.
It's worth noting that in October 2013, during the last meeting of the Working Group for Cooperation, Investment and Industry between both countries, the Russian representatives stated that, in order to initiate negotiations for the signing of a free trade agreement with the Customs Union (CU) of the Republic of Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation, Peru needed to present a formal proposal to the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC).
Since then, CADECOMIN Peru, an initiative by the Peruvian entrepreneurs who reside in Moscow and that seeks to guide exporters from the Andean country and serve as a link with the Russian market and companies, is hard at work.
Moreover, trade between the two countries in 2013 amounted to $736 million dollars. However, according to the Exporters Association (ADEX), this year, the Peruvian products in Russia could have a potential market of 5,000 million dollars.
According to ADEX, there is the chance to export pneumatic products, prepared food, cosmetics, cocoa powder and prepared or preserved fish, among other products.
"Peruvian exports to Russia amounted to $151 million dollars last year, 71% more than in the previous year," they stressed.
