Peruvian President Dina Ercilia Boluarte Zegarra, who just wrapped up her five-day visit to China on Saturday, expects to introduce more new technologies from China and make China-Peru cooperation a model for Latin America.
This is Boluarte's first state visit to China as the Peruvian president. Boluarte led a delegation including five key members of her cabinet for foreign affairs, economy and transportation, and representatives of the Peruvian economic sector.
Boluarte and her delegation visited cities of Shenzhen, Shanghai and Suzhou before arriving in the capital Beijing on Thursday, where they visited a number of enterprises and conducted in-depth exchanges with the Chinese side on culture, science and technology, trade and investment, infrastructure and other fields, to explore further opportunities for cooperation with China.
Boluarte began her China visit in the southern tech hub of Shenzhen on Tuesday. She was impressed by the bullet train when traveling between high-speed train stations of Hong Kong West Kowloon and Shenzhen Futian.
"China's high-speed trains are so fast and my train ride took a very short time," Boluarte said when she arrived in Shenzhen's Futian Station on Tuesday afternoon.
In a packed schedule, Boluarte and her delegation visited the Nanshan Museum and prominent companies Huawei and BYD on Wednesday.
At the Nanshan Museum, Boluarte was particularly captivated by the exhibition titled "The Son of the Sun - The Inca and Their Tawantinsuyu: The Land of Four Quarters" which showcases 168 pieces or sets of exhibits from 14 museums in Peru.
The exhibition opened to the public in April this year and has attracted more than 200,000 visits.
During the tour, she carefully listened to the tour guide's explanations and expressed a deep appreciation for the exhibition's significance.
"I would like to stress that this exhibition is not only a display of culture, but also a symbol of the close friendship between our two countries. Over the years, Peru and China have continuously strengthened ties in economy, investment, political and diplomatic affairs, and enhanced cultural and people-to-people exchanges and friendship," said Boluarte at the exhibition.
Scientific and technological innovation is a focus of Boluarte's visit.
At Huawei's headquarters in Longgang District, Boluarte toured the company's exhibition hall, where she experienced a naked-eye 3D display of museum exhibits, powered by Huawei's 5G technology, and learned about the company's cutting-edge solutions for different sectors.
At BYD, accompanied by its chairman Wang Chuanfu, Boluarte was given a comprehensive overview of the company's diverse vehicle models and its latest technological breakthroughs in the new energy vehicle sector.
In Shanghai, the second stop on Boluarte's visit to China, she visited Rui Jin Hospital where she operated a Chinese-developed robot to peel the shell from a quail egg and also met with Cosco Shipping Corporation Chairman Wan Min on Thursday.
She then traveled to the nearby city of Suzhou in east China's Jiangsu Province on Thursday afternoon. She visited the exhibition center of the Suzhou Industrial Park, a high-tech enterprise, and Suzhou King Long (Higer), one of China's leading bus makers.
Made-in-Suzhou electric buses will be used during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum this year in Lima, Peru.
Boluarte spoke highly the sci-tech innovations made by Chinese enterprises in the fields of artificial intelligence, digital health and infrastructure. The president has voiced welcome for Chinese companies to invest in her country when participating in a keynote conference titled "Investment Opportunities in Peru" on Thursday in Shanghai.
She stressed that the investment of Chinese enterprises will help Peru improve its national productivity and competitiveness, and better integrate into the global value chain.
"It needs to be pointed out that Peru is connected to the world. Currently, we have free trade agreements with 22 countries around the world, and 92 percent of our goods exports benefit from these agreements. Of course, foreign investors would also benefit from Peru," said Boluarte at the conference.
For many years in a row, China has been Peru's largest trading partner and most important export destination. In 2023, bilateral trade between China and Peru exceeded 37.6 billion U.S. dollars. Since April 2019, driven by the Belt and Road Initiative, China and Peru have made continuous progress in cooperation in economy and trade, infrastructure and other fields.
Peru will chair the 2024 APEC economic leaders meeting, and looks forward to working with China and other members to raise the voice on supporting the multilateral trading system.
"We support multilateralism and inclusive globalization. We want to resolve problems and conflicts in a peaceful way. These are fundamental principles, and we stand with China to defend them," said Marco Balarezo, Ambassador of Peru to China.
Peruvian President wraps up state visit to China, aims for multifaceted cooperation
Peruvian President wraps up state visit to China, aims for multifaceted cooperation
