MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UK’s Trade Envoy in Peru with 15-strong business delegation to launch Joint Task Force

UK’s Trade Envoy to Peru (R) arrives to inaugurate Joint Task Force

Mark Menzies, the UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Peru, Chile, and Colombia, is in Lima this week with a delegation of 15 representatives of British government and businesses, including Arup, MACE, Clifford Chance, Crossrail, UK Export Finance, and the City of London. He will seek to identify new areas to boost UK-Peru trade and investment.

The UK’s Trade Envoy will launch the first meeting of the joint UK/Peru Infrastructure Task Force to take place at the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The public-private task force provide a mechanism for sharing experience and international best practice on the prioritization, financing, procurement, management & delivery of major infrastructure projects in Peru.

The delegation will be meeting Prime Minister Cesar Villanueva and several cabinet ministers.

The UK became Peru’s largest foreign investor this year with Anglo American’s Quellaveco copper mining project worth US$ 5.3 billion. Over 50% of the UK’s investment is in mining but trade is diversifying to other areas such as sustainable infrastructure and healthcare.

The Trade Envoy will also visit ongoing construction of Lima Metro Line 2 and the Videna multi-sport complex, which will host a number of athletic events during the Lima 2019 Pan American and Para Pan American Games.

British Ambassador to Peru Kate Harrisson said that Mark Menzies’s visit this week will mark a new milestone in our bilateral relationship as we launch the joint Infrastructure Task Force.

“Through our government-to-government agreement, UK experts are already working hand-in-hand with the Lima 2019 organizing committee to help deliver Peru’s first ever PanAmerican and Parapan American Games. We hope to replicate some of these international best practices for other major infrastructure projects”.

The UK-Peru Infrastructure Task Force will facilitate sharing of knowledge and international best practice and reduce Peru's infrastructure gap.