China and Peru get Closer, Rare Earth Element Access

Highlights

• Chinese President Xi Jinping and Peru’s leader signed a protocol upgrading their bilateral free trade agreement, deepening their comprehensive strategic partnership.
• Both countries plan to collaborate on emerging areas including:
  • Circular economy
  • Sustainable agriculture
  • Digital economy
  • Green development
• Peru offers significant rare earth element reserves that could potentially enhance technological and economic cooperation with China.

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China and Peru inked a protocol deal  upgrading the Asian and South American nation’s bilateral free trade agreement during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit. The Chinese President and Peru’s head issued a joint statement celebrating the deepening of what is considered a comprehensive strategic partnership yesterday.

Both countries moving forward will explore new opportunities to collaborate, all governed by the Belt and Road Initiative framework. With talk of “mutual benefit” and “win-win results.” The joint statement also involves the pursuit of “sustainable development” and a readiness to collaborate on large-scale infrastructure initiatives.

According to Chinese state-owned media China and Peru pursue joint projects in such emerging areas as circular economy, sustainable agriculture, industrial and supply chains, digital economy investment and green development into bilateral cooperation.

Also, the partners touted the launch of a China-Peru aviation links by Chinese airlines via code-sharing, cultivating the market for the launch of direct flights.

Other initiatives include the mutual development of artificial intelligence capacity building, and enhancing the digital competitiveness of all people, especially vulnerable groups.

Both China and Peru renewed their advocacy for the bolstering of multilateral cooperation while addressing together global challenges.

As reported in Xinhua (opens in a new tab) “China and Peru will continue to support an open, transparent, and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system centered on the World Trade Organization (WTO), said the statement.”

Both countries are ready to continue to actively promote the reform of the WTO, restore the normal functioning of the dispute settlement mechanism, enhancing the authority and impacts of the multilateral trading system.

What about Rare Earth Elements?

Peru has rare earth elements (REEs) located at Capacscaya, about 123 kilometers northwest of Cusco, a site containing significant quantities of light and heavy REEs, including neodymium, lanthanum, cerium, europium, and yttrium. The area also contains copper, zinc, cobalt, aluminum, iron, and other base metals. 

Peru also counts apatite-enriched materials located in the country.

Samples from the Peru shelf have been analyzed for their REE concentrations. 

Peru is one of the world's most resource-rich nations, and its reserves of copper, silver, zinc, and lithium are essential to technologies that support a cleaner, more sustainable future. 

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