Heroes whose stories go back to the struggle for independence, the title of one of the country’s most representative drinks, sports and cultural associations, as well as the thriving trade that has made it our main trading partner in Europe. he United kingdom Peru maintains a relationship that has blossomed in various aspects, and this year celebrates its bicentenary.
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On the occasion of the 200th anniversary celebration, the UK Minister for the Americas and the Caribbean, David Routley, visited our country and participated in a series of special activities, including a visit to the headquarters of the 2019 Pan American Games and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to protect the Amazon region.
After a ceremony held at Torre Tagle Palace, Minister Routli was received commerce To talk about relations between our countries, future plans and other topics of regional interest.
– What is the value of these 200 years of bilateral relations?
I believe that my visit here perfectly illustrates the importance of our relationship, which has a deep history and shares many values. The relationship is very strong both in trade and investment and in security responses, where we share values, and this is evident in our response to what is happening in Ukraine. It is a great honor for me to be here to celebrate this important anniversary. Moreover, after my conversations at the State Department, I can confirm that we maintain a strong agenda for the future.
Among the recent developments between the two countries, the United Kingdom decided to exempt Peruvians from visas. Are there other decisions of this kind on the way?
It was an important decision to lift visa requirements. Accordingly, what is happening now is that tourism opportunities have increased in both directions. We expect around 50,000 British nationals to come to Peru this year and we know we can increase this number even further. Especially now, with direct flights coming from Latin America in December. It is a very exciting time for our relationships.
“We expect around 50,000 British nationals to come to Peru this year and we know we can grow this number further.”
– Your country is a very special destination for Peruvians wishing to pursue graduate studies. Are there discussions regarding educational programs?
We had very good conversations about the efforts made by the British Consulate in this regard, and the cooperation between universities is also very important. There are great opportunities in this field and we are very interested that more Peruvian students can go to study in the UK. Furthermore, I hope that over time we can see more young Britons wanting to experience what this wonderful country has to offer, not only as tourists but also as workers.
-I’m sure many Peruvians also want to live the Chevening experience…
I know. We want to help more Peruvians live the Chevening experience, it is a very competitive scholarship but we have been able to develop some partnerships with companies to increase the number of students. We currently have 280 scholarship recipients (Peruvian) in our alumni network and the amazing thing about the program is that these young people leave Peru, living this experience in the UK but with a commitment to returning to their country to make a difference. It’s an incredible program. But it’s not just about Chevening Scholarships, there are many other educational opportunities.
– During this visit you had the opportunity to meet some of the Chevening scholarship recipients. What can you tell us about this meeting?
The aim of the meeting was to find out what we can do in terms of promoting gender equality. The colleagues I met are doing some very important work in this area, mentoring and empowering more young women to enter public, civil or political service. We had a very good conversation with two former Prime Ministers of Peru as well. We want to help stimulate this development here, and women and girls are a very important aspect of our foreign policy. So it was a very broad conversation about those themes we had in common.
“We want to help more Peruvians live the Chevening experience.”
– Many people wondered at the time how much Brexit would affect relations between their countries, in this case Peru and the United Kingdom. Three and a half years later, what can you tell us about him?
I think our countries have great faith in democracy, so when the British people wanted to leave the EU we did. What we are doing now is trying to achieve our goals in the world, which include more free trade agreements. This was something we couldn’t do. We have succeeded in signing the agreement between the Andean countries and the United Kingdom, which builds on what has been achieved with the European Union. And now also with the CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership), for which we thank Peru for its support for its rapid ratification. Brexit has happened, now we are moving forward with these agreements and Peru is an ideal partner. If we look at the degree of British investment here, we will see that it is the highest, not only in the field of mining but also in other fields. I feel like we can be very strong partners in agtech and the like.
– I understand that for your government, the issue of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas Islands for Argentines) is already closed, but a few months ago they faced an impasse with the EU because they referred to the territory as “Malvinas/Falklands”, what do you do? Do you think about this topic resurfacing with some frequency?
For us, it’s a solved problem and I think it is for most of the world. What we want is for the wishes of the Falkland Islanders to be respected for self-determination. We talk about democratic principles and freedom, one of the most important aspects of which is self-determination. There was a referendum on the islands 10 years ago, and the answer was that they wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom. Therefore, we ask our friends to respect their wishes.
Argentine presidential candidate Javier Miley commented some time ago on the possibility of establishing a model on the islands similar to the one that was implemented in Hong Kong. Is this a possibility for you?
As I said, we respect the wishes of the Falkland Islanders. We wish Argentines every success in their democratic process of electing their president, and in response we ask that the democratic rights of those living in the Falkland Islands be respected. We are not thinking about negotiating sovereignty or anything like that, because the most important thing for us is the self-determination of the population and we want to respect that.
He added, “A referendum was held in the Falkland Islands ten years ago, and the answer was that they wanted to remain in the United Kingdom. Therefore, we ask our friends to respect their wishes.”
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