Peru becomes ASEAN’s development partner, The ASEAN flag (Photo: Internet)

Buenos Aires - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) granted Peru the Development Partner status at the meeting of foreign ministers held in Luang Prabang, Laos, the Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported on January 29.

With this status, Peru strengthens its presence in the Southeast Asian region and opens a new stage of ties with the bloc, which constitutes an opportunity to increase trade and cooperation flows, as well as to project the country's interests among ASEAN member states, the ministry said.

Peru is the sixth country in the world, after Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Chile, to obtain this type of relationship with the bloc.

Peru and ASEAN are united by common interests in regional agreements, such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and the Pacific Alliance-ASEAN.

Two-way trade between ASEAN member countries and Peru accounts for about 2.5%-3% of the total import-export turnover of this South American country.

Peru signed a free trade agreement (FTA) with Singapore in 2009 and with Thailand in 2011. It is also negotiating another with Indonesia.

Peru is currently Vietnam’s sixth largest trade partner in the Latin American region. Two-way trade increased from 300 million USD in 2014 to 600 million USD in 2022.

ASEAN was established in 1967. Its current members are Brunei, Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.