HONOLULU - Chinese President Hu Jintao met with Peruvian President Ollanta Humala on Friday, with both sides urging deeper economic cooperation.

Humala also called for more Chinese firms to invest in Peru.

The duo met on the sideline of the 19th Economic Leaders' Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

During the meeting, Hu said Sino-Peruvian ties are at a strategic high, and he pledged the two sides would sustain high-level communication on matters of mutual concern.

Hu also called on both sides to increase cooperation and take measures to ensure steady bilateral trade growth, especially in sectors such as energy, infrastructure construction, high technology, agriculture and environmental protection.

Hu also said China welcomes more Peruvian students in China and more Chinese teaching in Peru to enhance mutual understanding between the two peoples.

Humala said the strategic partnership, set up in 2008, has progressed smoothly thanks to efforts made by both countries, including the free-trade agreement that came into effect in March 2008.

"Peru is willing to enhance political communication, and advance cooperation with China in every sector, in order to achieve a win-win situation," Humala told Hu.

Since Humala took office in July, he has made it clear that he wants "a larger bilateral relationship with China," which for Peru is part of a strategic fight against poverty.

China stands as the second-largest trade partner of the Latin American country. China has also surpassed the United States to become the largest importer of Peruvian products, with bilateral trade between the two reaching $9.7 billion last year, a 50-percent rise compared with that in 2009.

Trade between the two countries has risen 32 percent during the first eight months compared with that period last year.

"We hope that this strategic association that we have with China will spread into multiple dimensions," Peruvian Foreign Minister Rafael Roncagliolo said on Tuesday in an interview with Xinhua News Agency.

The exchange of technical visits in the mining industry, based on transfer of technology, are also important to the bilateral relationship.

Peru's former foreign minister Manuel Rodriguez also said on Thursday that the meeting between the two heads of the states is of utmost importance amid the current context of global crisis.

Rodriguez stressed that though Peru's international trade is diversified, China is a destination of paramount importance to his country's exports, representing around 20 percent of mineral sales.

These relationships are crucial because of potentially greater restrictions on exports to the United States and Europe, Rodriguez was quoted by Peru's official news agency ANDINA as saying.

China Daily

(China Daily 11/13/2011 page2)