Peru, Mexico boost bilateral ties

Peru: Visiting Mexican President Felipe Calderon and his Peruvian counterpart Alan Garcia Wednesday agreed to strengthen relations between the two countries.

“This is a historic event and represents a new model of integration, and it represents a positive, realistic, and active example of integration in the century 21st,” Garcia said in referrence to the Agreement on the Deepening of the Pacific that he and Calderon will sign Thursday.

After their meeting, both presidents hailed the agreement which will be singed together with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Chilean President Sebastian Pinera. Garcia and Calderon signed a joint declaration aimed at deepening the two countries’ friendship, cooperation, integration, trade, investments and the permanent fight against poverty and organized crime.

The two presidents also expressed solidarity over the need to defend the recovery of cultural and archeological heritage in the form of artifacts that have been illegally stolen from Peru and Mexico and taken to foreign destinations.

Calderon said the reinforcement of relations between Mexico and Peru proves the mutual feeling of brotherhood between the peoples of the two countries, while more trade exchange and a growing level of investment are generating more employment and business opportunities.

The two nations’ foreign ministers, Peru’s Jose Garcia Belaunde and Mexico’s Patricia Espinoza, also signed a bilateral agreement to ensure that citizens won’t face double taxation. Lima, Thursday, Xinhua