6

TST: In May, the letter of credence for the newly appointed Peruvian Ambassador to Slovenia was presented to the President, Mr. Borut Pahor. What does this mean?

The occasion of the presentation of the letter of credence is the moment when an ambassador of a country (in this case Peru) is formally accepted by the guest country (in this case Slovenia). In Slovenia, as in many other European countries the letter of credence is presented to the president of the country. The embassy of Peru in Austria will be covering also Slovenia. The newly appointed Peruvian Ambassador is HE Mr Alfredo Chuquihuara.

In practice, it means that there exists an official channel for regular communication on multilateral, as well as bilateral political issues, promotion of trade relations and participation in exhibitions, cultural, students and sporting exchange. Peru and Slovenia started diplomatic relations in 1992. Our Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina covers also Peru. For the time being, Slovenia has no Honorary Consulate in Peru. The Peruvian Honorary Consulate in Ljubljana was established in 2011/2012. Although the Slovenian Foreign Minister, Mr Karl Erjavec, made an official visit to Peru in 2015, there are no bilateral agreements signed as yet between the two countries.

TST: As the honorary consul in Slovenia, what is your estimate of the business volume between the countries and which sectors / industries are relevant?

The total business volume estimated for 2016 is between EUR 5m and EUR 6m. On the export side, I see potential due to the steady growth of the Peruvian economy, which was between 5% -6% yearly but falling to a low of 3% in 2014/2015 with predictions to return on 4%-5% in 2016. Our export items are: small and medium size power plants, extra light planes, games and electronic equipment, telematics tracking and monitoring equipment, air supported fabric structures, pumps and turbines, valves, electrical motors and transformers, foundry models, rubber products, tanning extracts, car batteries and mining equipment.
On the import side, there is a long list of Peruvian products interesting for Slovenian importers: bananas, asparagus, avocado, citrus, coffee, cocoa, grapes, quinoa and other heathy food, copper, gold, zinc, lead, tin, animal/fish meal and pellets, frozen fish fillets, mollusks, fish oil and fats, textiles, knitwear and leather products.

TST: Is there already some trade support activities between Slovenia and Peru?

Yes, last year we organised, together with the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Peruvian Embassy in Vienna, a trade promotion event in Ljubljana, called "Doing business in Peru". The main presenter was Mr Adolfo Samaniego from the Peruvian Trade Promotion office in Geneva. 25 Slovenian companies participated. Other than those trading sectors previously mentioned, there were also companies from the tourism sector. Additionally, representatives of Peru participated in the 2015 Bled Strategic Forum.
We also had some cultural exchange last year: Mestno gledališče Ljubljana went to Lima for two performances, the Slovene folk dance group "Židan Parasol" visited Lima and had seven performances. On the other hand, there was a presentation of the documentary /movie "Living Quechua" in Ljubljana made by Mrs Christine Mladic Janney from Chicago (USA) in2015.