Boluarte meets Xi Jinping and cooperation advances “from Chancay to Shanghai”

It ended with a bilateral meeting with his counterpart Xi Jinpingpenultimate day of the visit to China of the President of Peru, In BoluarteThe meeting resulted in the signing of the Joint Action Plan, which includes agreements on strengthening political cooperation, investment, technology transfer, investments, tourism and exports. In addition, both parties announced the conclusion of negotiations to improve the free trade agreement signed in 2010. With this trip to China, Peru reaffirms itself as one of Beijing's main partners in Latin America and China reiterates its willingness to collaborate with the Andean country in a large-scale infrastructure project and in the management of the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum summit, scheduled for Lima in November.

China is ready to work with Peru to promote the strategic partnership between the two countries and actively support the APEC Economic Forum Economic Leaders' Meeting, believing that Peru will leave its mark on Asia-Pacific cooperation, he wrote on X in Spanish. Chinese Foreign Ministry communications chief Hua Chunying reported Xi Jinping's remarks at the meeting. The Chinese leader stressed that the two countries belong to the Global South, calling for strengthening solidarity and promoting the common values ​​of humanity, for a multipolar world and inclusive economic globalization. Xi also reaffirmed his willingness to complete the mega-infrastructure of the Chancay port and to fund scholarships for Peruvian citizens to study in China. Boluarte, for his part, highlighted the opportunities created by cooperation with Beijing: Investment and cooperation by Chinese companies in Peru have not only created jobs, but also the transfer of advanced technology and experience, the president said.

Boluarte's trip strengthened, therefore, the political relations between the two governments, but above all it certified the economic relations and the intense industrial and commercial relations, as evidenced by the busy agenda of business meetings of Boluarte and his delegation of five ministers (Minister of Foreign Affairs, Javier Gonzalez Olaechea; economy, If Arista; of the House, Hania Pérez de Cuellar; transport, Raul Perez-Reyes and health, Cesar Vasquez). In Shenzhen, Boluarte met with representatives of major Chinese companies, including the technology company Huawei (with which a memorandum of understanding was signed to introduce 20,000 young Peruvians to the use of new technologies) and the automobile company Byd. In Shanghai, the president attended a conference on investment opportunities in Peru, followed by a meeting with the executives of China Southern PowerGrid Limited (CSG); with the director of the Digital Medicine Innovation Center, Ning Gong and visits to Suzhou Industrial Park and electric bus manufacturing company, Higer.

But the most anticipated meeting in Shanghai was the one with Cosco Shipping, which leads the Sino-Peruvian consortium and is the main shareholder of the Chancay megaport. It is precisely this ambitious infrastructure project, which promises to change trade in the Pacific by building a direct route from China to Peru and shortening the duration of trade, that was the focus of Boluarte's visit. This great work is expected to be completed by November 2024, when Peru hosts the Asia-Pacific Alliance (Apec) summit. During the meeting with the Peruvian delegation, the president of Cosco Shipping Corporation Limited, Wan Min, assured that the deadlines will be respected. A promise also reiterated by Xi Jinping, who called for joint efforts to guarantee the result and transform the port of Chancay into a new land and maritime corridor between China and Latin America.

The work was at the center of some legal difficulties, one of which was overcome a few hours before Boluarte's departure for China. In 2021, Cosco – which is also part of the Ocean Alliance, responsible for half of the transport of goods between Asia and America – had in fact obtained authorization to exclusively operate the port's services. However, the National Port Authority (PNA), contesting in March 2024 the decision taken by its own leaders three years earlier, objected that the current law did not allow exclusivity to be granted on “essential services” as well as on “port infrastructure”. “. And since the port of Chancay is a public asset, the State could not under any circumstances conclude a private agreement with the company. All this overcome thanks to the recent reform of the law on the national portal system, in June , which makes it possible to grant exclusivity.

In addition to another legal issue still under consideration, the “megaport” of Chancay – a city north of the capital Lima – promises to be a crucial hub for maritime trade. The idea for the port dates back to 2007, at the initiative of former Peruvian Navy Admiral Juan Ribaudo de la Torre, who made the land available to an ad hoc company (Port of Chancay, CHP). In 2011, Ribaudo joined forces and capital with the Peruvian company Volcan Compania Minera SAA, an acronym that will take over 100 percent of the company in 2016, after the death of the promoter. Estimating that the cost of construction would be at least $1.8 billion (four times the initial estimate), Volcan sought and found the necessary financial and industrial partner in Cosco Shipping Ports, forming the consortium in which it now holds 40 percent of the capital. capital.

The port should reduce the Pacific crossing time by at least ten days, thus becoming a winning bet for several South American countries. To date, companies wishing to sell in China organize their maritime journeys heading to ports in Mexico or California, with navigation times which, for example from Peru, are not less than 35 days. The megaport will be able to accommodate ships with a capacity of up to 18,000 containers (among the largest in circulation), thanks to a draft of 16.5 meters. The airport, approximately 80 percent completed according to various estimates, will have 80 hectares and four terminals in the operational area alone, with fully automatic handling structures, as is the case in other modern structures.

Countries like Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia and Chile could significantly shorten their journeys, achieving savings that would make the region's products more competitive. But not only that: the builders are designing an urban development plan intended to expand the perimeter of the city, also to accommodate the various companies interested in taking advantage of the new logistics. According to the newspaper “La Republica”, companies and logistics groups from the countries already mentioned, but also from Panama, are looking for areas in which to establish their own offices, not only to be close to the port logistically, but also – possibly – to complete the productive processes in Peru, taking advantage of the advantages of the free trade agreement.

The port, which could guarantee Peru, according to Moody's, a 0.2 percent increase in gross domestic product, is seen as an important opportunity, particularly for Brazil. The Amazon giant, which shipped goods worth $2023 billion to China in 105.7, currently has only three routes to “land” in Asia: around Cape Horn, through the Mediterranean or through the Panama Canal. All these trips can last up to 50 days.

Peru is the second Latin American country to sign a free trade agreement with China, which took effect in 2010, and the Asian giant has been the Andean country's main trading partner since 2014. Both countries, China since 1991 and Peru since 1998, are members of the Asia-Pacific Cooperation (Apec), an intergovernmental body that potentially brings together the 21 economies of the so-called “Pacific ring” (the territories located on either side of 'other of the ocean). Peru – along with Mexico, Chile and Colombia – is also part of the Pacific Alliance, a recent trade integration mechanism, less active today, which includes economies that have foreign markets as a factor of development crucial.

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