Living in Peru : your everyday companion

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Chilean business group Falabella announced today that it will maintain its investments in Peru despite the effects of the earthquake that hit Chile.

Jose Antonio Contreras, General Manager of Malls Perú, said that local projects must continue because the market is going up.

Falabella investments in Peru may total US $600 million during 2010 and 2012, and Chilean companies Cencosud, Falabella and Ripley announced investments worth US$635 million only for this year.

“A few stores of Grupo Falabella were affected in Chile, but we will restore them as soon as possible,” Contreras said.

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Peru may have 10,000 companies exporting to China during the first ten years of the free trade agreement with that country, that took effect since March 1, said Foreign Trade Minister Martin Perez.

"Most trade analysts estimate that the number of companies exporting to China may grow between 15% and 17% during the first year of the free trade agreement, and some ones estimate it may even grow by 20%,” he said.

He pointed out that there are currently more than 1,000 companies in Peru exporting directly to China, while another 7,000 do so indirectly.

"We are saying that we might have some 1,000 new companies exporting to China, and that would make a total of 10,000 in ten years' time,” said Perez.

He pointed out that China population is 1.3 billion people, and the fact that in 2009, a year of international financial crisis, Peruvian exports to China grew by 12%.

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Correction: A previous version of the headline cited Rio Blanco as the company. It is Rio Alto Mining.

Rio Alto Mining announced that its Peruvian subsidiary company has acquired five mining concessions, that total some 4,300 hectares, reports Semana Economica.

These new concessions are neighboring copper and gold project La Arena, owned by the same company, that currently has 20,673 hectares in La Libertad.

Three of these new concessions are also adjacent to the ones corresponding to the project Las Lagunas Norte, run by Barrick Gold.

Rio Alto Mining has also requested the acquisition of another 1,500 hectares of mining concessions, and expects to get an approval during the next two weeks.

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Andina

The Organization of American States (OAS), through its Small Tourism Enterprises Program (STEP), will hold the First Meeting of the Regional Technical Committee of the Small Hotels Technical Assistance Program in Countries of the Andean Region this Friday, March 5, in Lima, Peru, with the objective of contributing to the professionalization of the tourism sector.

The program is directed to businesses in Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru.

This support program for small Hotels seeks to contribute to the sustainability and competitiveness of small hotels in the Andean Region, as well as to promote the many destinations in the region through technical assistance programs and the adaptation of successful models from the Caribbean and Central America.

The implementation of the Small Hotels Technical Assistance Program in the Andean region will contribute to the professionalization of the tourism sector through the implementation of an integral model in administration and management, marketing, human resources development, technological design and other areas.

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Formal employment in private companies with ten or more employees has grown by 1.3% during 2009, which is higher than the economic growth of 0.9% registered in the same period, according to figures from Peru's Labor Ministry

The increase of regular job positions, that is, the ones with all social benefits included, reached 1.6% in Metropolitan Lima, reports Gestión.

The survey was conducted in 29 cities, 22 of which showed in increase in employment rates, while only seven had a drop in this index.

The cities with highest increases were Moquegua and Ayacucho, both with 15.9%, while the cities with the largest drops are Iquitos (-7.00%) and Cajamarca (-6.8%).

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

U.S.-based hotel chain Radisson is considering the possibility of opening another hotel in Lima, which would be the third one, due to the increasing demand of four-star and five-star hotels among the corporative segment, reports TNews.

The President of Radisson Hotel & Resort for Latin America, Denise Estefan, said that they are still evaluating if they are going to be in charge of this project of if they will franchise it, as they do in another countries, reports Gestión.

"Perú is an important tourism destination, that's why we are studying this project, which is especially intended to the business traveler,” she said.

She added that the project, which may start operations in two or three years' time, may demand an investment between US $160,000 and US $ 200,000 per room, and that it may have between 125 and 150 rooms.

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Multinational Hasbro, owner of the popular game Monopolio announced it will start operations in Peru, and thus will launch a Peruvian version of this game.

This Peruvian version will include a board with the main tourism destinations in Peru.

Prom-Perú will be in charge to choose 60 images of these destinations, which will be available online starting March 11 at www.monopolyperu.com, so that people can choose their favorite ones.

From those 60 places, only 22 will illustrate Monopoly: Edición Peruana (Monopoly: Peruvian Edition).

According to Augusto Brambilla, Vice President and General Manager for Latin America for Hasbro, the game will be ready for the end of 2010.

Hasbro had previously launched the same idea in the US, Germany, France, Spain, Chile and China.

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Doe Run Peru signed a Letter of Intent with Glencore, in order to support the resume of its metallurgic operations in La Oroya, informed the mining company in a press release printed in almost all Peruvian printed media.

According to this Letter of Intent, Glencore will give Doe Run Peru a credit that has also the possibility of being used as working capital, to contribute with the operations restart.

It will also be part of the necessary financing of Doe Run's environmental adjustment and management, according to Semana Económica.

Doe Run Peru has to invest US $150 million to complete the environmental cleanup and still has a total debt of some US $110 million dollars with its  concentrate suppliers.

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Peru's Finance Ministry approved a supplementary credit of S/. 611.6 million soles (some US $203 million) intended for funding airports-related projects, reports Semana Económica.

The funds will be used by Peru's Transports and Communication Ministry to continue with the expropriation of the land nearby the Jorge Chavez International Airport.

The credit will also co-finance the concession of the First Group of Province Airports, and the legal regularization of the terrains where those terminals are located, and the improvements of the Cusco Airport Alejandro Velasco Astete.

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Peru and the European Union will sign a Free Trade Agreement this year. Peru's Foreign Trade Minister, Martin Perez, has just confirmed that negotiations in Brussels have come to an end, and that the terms are convenient for Peru.

Perez, pictured here, emphasized that all national interests regarding the 200 maritime miles, and that for example there are some advantages in fishing and fish products.

He added that Peru also got an increase in Peru's banana exports, that now allows a maximum of 75,000 tons.

Regarding to this free trade agreement, President Alan Garcia said that now Peruvian products like asparagus, paprika, grapes or avocados will have access to the European market, as well as our banana production.

Garcia remarked that this Free Trade Agreement will also generate “thousands of jobs.”

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