Peru

Last updated in October 2011

Political relations

Bilateral political relations between Germany and Peru are friendly and untroubled. Germany supports the democratic stabilization of Peru aimed at safeguarding human rights, promoting the rule of law, decentralization and civil society participation. In development cooperation, Germany is assisting Peru in the pressing task of reducing poverty.

Economic relations

Germany is a major trading partner of Peru’s, supplying high-quality capital goods and importing from Peru raw materials and agricultural products. The principal German imports from Peru are fish meal, asparagus, coffee and ores. Germany’s main exports to Peru are machinery of all kinds, electrical goods and motor vehicles.

After a temporary, crisis-related decline in the previous year, the volume of bilateral trade grew again by 41 per cent in 2010, to USD 2.418 billion, with a balance of trade surplus in Peru’s favour. Peru’s exports to Germany totalled USD 1.524 billion and its imports from Germany USD 894 million.

An investment protection agreement has been in place since 1997; there is no double taxation agreement.

Development cooperation

Peru is the largest recipient of German development cooperation funding in Latin America. This aid is greatly valued and appreciated by the Peruvian side. In all, Peru has received some EUR 2 billion in Financial Cooperation (FC) and Technical Cooperation (TC) since bilateral cooperation began. Priority areas of German development cooperation are: democracy, decentralization, civil society and public administration reform, drinking-water supply and sanitation, as well as sustainable rural development and natural resources conservation.

Cultural exchange

Cultural relations are also close. The Goethe Institute has a branch in Lima, and two other German-Peruvian cultural institutes are located in Arequipa and Cusco. Apart from the Alexander von Humboldt School (an International School with approximately 1,600 pupils), three further schools in Lima are supported by the Federal Foreign Office on account of their German teaching. A school in Chosica (near Lima) and one in Arequipa also receive similar support. In all, 12 Peruvian schools participate in the “Schools – Partners for the Future” initiative (PASCH), which is designed to arouse young people’s lasting interest in present-day Germany and in the German language. It is also thanks to this initiative that there are now some 15,000 people learning German in Peru.

Another priority area of cultural cooperation is scientific and academic exchange. In 2010, there were 128 Peruvians studying in Germany on German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarships. Conversely, the DAAD provided support to approximately 130 Germans studying in Peru. A DAAD academic teacher has been working at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú in Lima since August 2011.

The German Research Foundation funded four Peru-related projects and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation provided funding to a Peruvian scientist.

Of special note is the research work being done by the German Archaeological Institute’s Commission for General and Comparative Archaeology in Palpa near Nazca in cooperation with Peruvian institutions. There are also all sorts of other activities in a wide variety of cultural fields, e.g. support for exhibitions and concerts by German artists or German contributions to joint European cultural events held in Peru.