On November 20, 2008, visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao joined the breakfast meeting of Chinese and Peruvian entrepreneurs held in Lima and delivered a speech entitled Strengthening Mutually Beneficial Cooperation for a Better Future.

Hu, accompanied by Peruvian President Alan García, arrived at the meeting room at about 9:00 and was received by Chairman Jaime Caceres Sayán of the National Confederation of Private Business Associations of Peru.

All the Chinese and Peruvian entrepreneurs present at the meeting stood up and applauded warmly when the two heads of state stepped in.

In his speech, Hu noted that China and Peru, as two ancient civilizations, made outstanding contributions to the progress of human civilization and the two great nations have forged a traditional friendship which is as profound as that between two close neighbors and passed from generation to generation. Since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1971, the bilateral friendly cooperation has developed healthily with fruitful outcome in various fields, especially in the area of economy and trade. China has become the second largest trade partner and export destination of Peru, while Peru is one of the countries receiving the biggest investment from China in Latin America. The bilateral economic and trade cooperation has brought about tangible benefits to the two peoples and serves as the cornerstone and a strong driving force for the development of bilateral ties.

Hu pointed out that the establishment of free trade zone of China and Peru is a strategic decision made by the two governments from the long-term perspective of developing bilateral relations and will create important opportunities for the expansion of bilateral trade. We are ready to make joint efforts with Peru to increase the bilateral trade volume, optimize trade structure, actively push forward trade balance and realize better and faster growth of bilateral trade.

He said that China and Peru enjoy favorable conditions to strengthen economic and trade cooperation. First, the governments and people of both countries attach great importance to developing bilateral ties and the bilateral economic and trade cooperation enjoys sound political foundation and social environment; second, the two sides are committed to conducting win-win cooperation and seeking common development and fully understand the concern of each other; third, the two countries enjoy advantages respectively in terms of capital, resources, technology and market and share strong economic complementarities; fourth, the economy of both countries is growing rapidly, which creates the internal driving force for the expansion of cooperation.

However, we should remember that the bilateral economic and trade cooperation faces challenges against the backdrop of complicated and fluctuating international economic environment, noted Hu. In particular, the turbulence of the international financial market, serious energy and food security issues and slowdown of the world economy have all impacted the economic development and economic and trade cooperation of China and Peru. The two countries should more than ever intensify coordination and cooperation, make best use of opportunities, properly cope with the challenges and maintain the sound momentum of bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

He proposed that the two sides focus efforts in the future on the following areas. First, China and Peru should strengthen cooperation in key areas. They enjoy strong complementarities in the mining sector and hence great potential of cooperation. To enhance mining cooperation is of great importance to reinforcing the bilateral economic and trade cooperation and promoting common development. Second, they should engage in investment cooperation. The Chinese government will continue to encourage qualified Chinese businesses to invest in Peru so as to create greater job opportunities locally and bring about win-win results. We support the businesses of both countries in establishing strategic alliances in order to increase their competitiveness in the international market. Third, government services should be improved. The government agencies of both countries should provide policy consulting and information services for the cooperation of businesses, encourage the financial institutions to offer greater fund support and make their legal environment more favorable to the mutual investment.

Hu indicated confidence that the mutually beneficial economic and trade cooperation as well as business cooperation between China and Peru will be lifted to a new level with the joint efforts of both sides.

García said that the current international economic situation is full of fluctuations caused by the financial crisis. China has adopted active measures to cope with the crisis and its clearly defined development direction and plans enjoy promising prospects. He expressed confidence that China will surely be able to overcome the negative impact of the crisis, maintain economic growth and contribute to the stability of world economy under the firm leadership of the Communist Party of China. Peru is proud of being a strategic partner of China. Both sides have successfully completed the negotiations on the free trade zone, which will help the two countries expand employment and accelerate economic growth. Peru hopes to develop the long-term strategic partnership with China and reinforce the bilateral cooperation in such fields as mining, architecture and infrastructure construction. It will provide a sound and stable environment for the Chinese businesses to invest in Peru and further expand the bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

Caceres said that the rapid development of Peru and China brings about critical opportunities for the bilateral cooperation. The bilateral relations enjoy great potential. Peru hopes make the cooperation with China a major component of its development process. With the signing of the free trade agreement between the two countries, the bilateral economic and trade relations will grow closer and more rapidly.

Senior executive of Aluminum Corporation of China made a speech at the meeting.

Ling Jihua, Wang Huning and Dai Bingguo were present at the meeting.

About 70 renowned Chinese and Peruvian businessmen attended the meeting.