LatinNews Daily Report - 23 May 2013

ECONOMY| Canadian aid package. On 22 May Canada’s prime minister, Stephen Harper, on official visit in Peru, revealed that he had agreed a new U$53m aid package with President Ollanta Humala that nearly doubled Canada’s total aid for Peru in 2011-12. The package seeks to strengthen the effectiveness of environmental impact assessments of mining and energy projects and includes resources for education and agriculture. Local environmentalists raised concerns about the fact that the new aid package appears to be closely tied to Canadian mining interests in Peru. Peru is Canada’s third largest destination for foreign direct investment in Latin America, most of it going to the mining sector; there are over a hundred publicly listed Canadian extractive companies operating in Peru. Exports to Canada totalled Can$4.453bn in 2011, mostly from precious metals, mineral ores, fuels and oils, and agricultural products. The two leaders also signed a cooperation agreement that seeks to facilitate transactions involving the purchase of assets and services for the defence sector, which has also benefited from the bilateral free trade agreement inked in 2009.

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