Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz


Signing free trade deals with Canada and Singapore is a clear sign that Peru is integrating itself into the world market and is now in the "big leagues", assured the country's Foreign Trade Society (COMEX).

On Tuesday, Peru's President Alan Garcia announced that the Andean country would sign free trade pacts with Canada and Singapore on Thursday May 29.

"Presently, the internal market is not what makes companies grow," said Patricia Teullet, the general manager of COMEX, explaining that the country's internal market was not enough to produce the jobs required to increase employment rates.

"Opening up to new markets implies that established companies in Peru will produce greatly and that means they will integrate themselves into the world and produce more jobs," affirmed Teullet.

Signing trade deals with Canada and Singapore will also help the county reach its goal of reducing the poverty rate to 30 percent by 2011, said Jaime Caceres, the president of the National Confederation of Private Business Associations (CONFIEP).

Earlier this week, President Garcia proudly announced the results of a national report that registered that the Andean nation's poverty rate had decreased over 5 percent.

He affirmed that the country's poverty rate would be at 10 percent by 2015.