FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
Xinhua Cites Schiller Institute-Peru on Belt and Road Economics
Aug. 20, 2018 (EIRNS)—Xinhua’s Lima office published a Spanish-language wire on Aug. 17 interviewing Peru’s Foreign Commerce and Tourism Minister, a retired Foreign Minister, and the head of the Schiller Institute in Peru Luis Vásquez Medina, on the potential for Peru in the global Belt and Road initiative. China News subsequently published Xinhua’s wire, with minor changes, in English.
Headlined (in Spanish) “Peru Is Ideal Stage for Belt and Road Initiative, Peruvian Minister Says,” Xinhua’s wire leads with Commerce Minister Rogers Valencia’s statements to Xinhua emphasizing that because China is Peru’s leading trading partner, and Peru has free trade agreements with more than 50 countries as well as its “privileged geographic position” located on the Pacific in the center of South America,
“that would allow us—through the Belt and Road Initiative—to take advantage of Peru’s strategic position to create trade routes that connect to other countries in the region.”
The wire concludes by citing Schiller Institute-Peru head Vásquez on the importance of the Belt and Road Initiative for all so-called emerging countries and for teaching economics generally, as well as for the nation of Peru:
“ ‘The spark of industrialization in Peru will only be lit by a new development platform that includes the latest breakthroughs in science and technology as well as great infrastructure in communication, energy and new cities,’ said Vásquez.
“He said that China has ample experience especially in communication technologies, a sector in which cooperation with China is key to overcoming Latin America’s deficiencies.
“Peru, and Latin America as a whole, has ‘unconnected regions that have not been able to generate an internal market that would let us take advantage of the opportunities China offers,’ Vásquez said.
“Vásquez, who also works at the Peruvian branch of Washington-headquartered Schiller Institute, encouraged economics students to study the Belt and Road Initiative.
“ ‘This initiative entails calls for returning to the real principles of economic science, which understands that the true wealth of nations does not lie in the mere accumulation of money, but in greater creative and cognitive capacities,’ the historian said.”
