U.S.-Peru Partnership Advances

Today, ahead President Biden's meeting with President Boluarte of Peru on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, the United States commemorates our indispensable partnership with Peru. The United States and Peru will celebrate 200 years of diplomatic relations in 2026, which will mark two centuries of strong ties in the areas of diplomacy, trade, sustainable development, security, democracy and human rights, counter-narcotics, and protecting the environment. This year, the United States and Peru marked 15 years of the United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement. Since 2001, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has invested over $1.8 billion to promote economic, social, and political development and to support Peru as it manages the migration flows impacting the region. Peru is a founding partner of the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity (Americas Partnership or APEP) initiative, endorsed the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, and recently agreed to increase cooperation with the United States on space and critical minerals.

Recent examples of our strong collaboration in key areas include:

Bolstering Security and Strengthening the Rule of Law. The United States and Peru maintain a long-standing security and defense partnership focused on strengthening counternarcotics operations, combatting transnational organized crime, improving disaster response, building peacekeeping capacity, and bolstering regional security.

• During APEC Economic Leaders' Week, the U.S. government announced a $65 million counternarcotics assistance package that includes the planned transfer of nine Black Hawk helicopters to Peru over the next five years. This assistance, along with the decision by the United States and Peru to restart cooperation under the non-lethal aerial interception agreement for the first time in 10 years, will support Peru's efforts to combat narcotics trafficking and transnational organized crime.

• Since Fiscal Year (FY) 2015, the United States, through the Department of State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, has provided more than $350 million in assistance to Peruvian law enforcement institutions to combat narcotics trafficking, disrupt transnational criminal organizations, and promote the rule of law.

• The United States is reinforcing security at the Port of Chancay through technical assistance and provision three cargo and vehicle inspection scanners totaling more than $8.5 million. These state-of-the-art scanners will ensure that cargo moving through the port does not pose a safety threat to Peru.

• The United States Southern Command provides extensive training and capacity building on cyber defense strategies to Peru. The United States and Peru co-led Resolute Sentinel military exercises in 2023 and 2024 to enhance interoperability among security forces in the region. The United States has invested $750,000 in the construction of training areas, barracks, and buildings to support emergency response in Peru.

• This year, the United States and Peru relaunched the Defense Bilateral Working Group to be followed by the Political-Military Dialogue in 2025. The United States and Peru also established a Bilateral Security Working Group to develop and address security issues facing Peru and the region.

• The U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit SOUTH (NAMRU-SOUTH) is a U.S. Navy command that conducts research on infectious diseases in South and Central America. It is collocated on Peruvian naval bases in Callao and Iquitos, Peru, and is comprised of 15 U.S. active-duty military, five Department of Defense civilians, and nearly 180 Peruvian staff.

• The U.S. Coast Guard completed four successful partnership engagements with Peru during 2024 aimed at minimizing risks of inadequate illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU-F) and port regulation and oversight, the lack of which leads to corruption, coercion, and other illicit activities.

Promoting Mutual Economic Prosperity, Development, and Good Governance

• The United States is Peru's number one partner in job creation, generating over 1.1 million jobs in Peru in 2023 through bilateral trade totaling more than $20.5 billion in 2023, according to Peru's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism. U.S. direct investment in Peru in 2023 was more than $6.6 billion.

• Through Peru's active participation in the Americas Partnership, we are driving inclusive, sustainable growth and strengthening critical supply chains via increased trade and investment.

• More than 500,000 U.S. citizens visit Peru annually, providing the largest single group of visitors that sustains Peru's world-class tourism sector. Peru has the largest Summer Work and Travel program of any country with 8,000 young Peruvians providing important annual staffing for U.S. ski resorts, theme parks, and small businesses.

• The State Department and USAID provided more than $580 million for Peru to advance critical development and humanitarian priorities since FY 2021 in support of efforts to strengthen democratic institutions and procurement transparency, combat environmental crime, protect natural resources, support farmers in cultivating alternative crops to coca, and enhance health security. This support includes $335 million in humanitarian assistance to support integration for migrants and meet their immediate humanitarian needs inside Peru.

• USAID mobilized more than $5 million in private investments to expand internet access for more than 100 rural Peruvian Amazon communities. The initiative has trained over 15,000 people in digital skills and provided financial education to more than 20,000 individuals.

• USAID has supported the boom in the cacao, chocolate, and coffee industries in Peru over the course of the past 15 years. As a result, Peru is the second largest producer of organic cacao in the world and is among the top 10 producers of conventional cacao.

A Space Partnership. The United States and Peru are advancing space cooperation into civil and defense sectors. A significant milestone in this partnership is Peru's decision to join the Artemis Accords this year, committing to shared principles for responsible and sustainable space exploration.

• During APEC Economic Leaders' Week, the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Peru's Space Agency, the National Commission for Aerospace Research and Development (CONIDA), will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to enhance space cooperation. The MOU will include safety training, a joint feasibility study for a potential sounding rockets campaign, and technical assistance for CONIDA on sounding rocket launches, which are small, low-cost flight opportunities to suborbital space used to strengthen space science research and investigation. Additionally, the U.S. and Peruvian governments will issue a Joint Communique on Space Exploration.

• In February 2024, USAID invested $2.1 million and partnered with NASA and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) to launch the second phase of SERVIR Amazonia. This three-year program uses cutting-edge NASA satellite data and geospatial technology to help Peru and others in the region address Amazon conservation, enhance climate risk strategies, and build resilience to extreme weather.

• The Department of Defense will deliver a telescope to Peru in 2025 to detect space debris, building on the Space Situational Awareness agreement that Peru signed with the United States Space Command in April 2023.

Safe, Secure, and Sustainable Infrastructure. The United States' public and private sectors play a significant role in strengthening Peru's infrastructure through investments and capacity-building in critical sectors such as transportation, water and sanitation, energy, and agriculture. This year Peru became the first country in Latin America to join the Blue Dot Network for quality infrastructure.

• Rail: California commuter rail line Caltrain will donate 90 passenger cars and 19 locomotives to the city of Lima for its commuter metro rail project. This transaction, facilitated by the U.S. Departments of State and Commerce, will provide efficient public transit, save the city of Lima millions of dollars, and generate up to $500 million in U.S. exports of rail, track material, signaling systems, and protection equipment for crossings.

• Seaports: In October, Peru's National Port Authority approved the master plan for the Port of Matarani, an expansion proposal that includes new U.S. private sector investments of more than $500 million to enable continued growth in Peru's southern region as Latin America's main port for copper and a key port for agricultural exports. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is providing thePeruvian Navy technical expertise through a $180 million foreign military sales case for construction at the Peruvian naval port at Callao, which may lead to a $1 billion effort beginning in 2025 to construct the new port for the Peruvian Navy.

• Sister Ports: On November 1, the U.S. port of Hueneme in California and the Peruvian port of Paita established a "sister port" relationship under the new U.S. Sister Ports Program, managed by the Department of State's Office of Transportation Policy. The ports will exchange best practices in safety and security, smart port technology, sustainability, green shipping corridors, public-private collaboration, and port business and marketing.

• Clean Water: The Transaction Advisory Fund (TAF)-a joint program of the U.S. State Department and USAID-is working with the Regional Government of Cajamarca and the U.S. private sector to support implementation studies for the Huatalpampa reservoir project in Cajamarca to close the region's sizeable water infrastructure gap. Furthermore, in FY 2023, USAID mobilized $30 million in new investments for water security through 15 projects in Peru, including improving natural water sources, wetlands, and watersheds.

• Management and Reform: USAID, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Commerce, has invested more than $2.4 million to improve Peru's national public procurement system, build the capacity of procurement staff, and engage the private sector in regulatory reform to tackle corruption and improve infrastructure. USAID helped Peru achieve full compliance with the international Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative agreement this year.

• Investment: The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has a total of $45 million in active financial operations supporting businesses in Peru. The DFC is working with financial intermediaries to support lending for small- and medium-scale agricultural producers, producer associations, and small merchants in the Peruvian Amazon.

Building People-to-People Connections. The connections between the United States and Peruvian people embody the breadth and depth of our partnership.

• The Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation has supported 36 local projects with $4.1 million in 16 regions of Peru. Through the bilateral Cultural Patrimony Agreement, 2,000 cultural pieces have been repatriated to Peru over the past three decades.

• The Fulbright Commission in Peru will celebrate its 70^th anniversary in May 2026 with support for over 3,200 scholarships to date. Over 14,000 Peruvians form part of a global alumni network of U.S. government-funded educational and professional exchange programs.

• Embassy Lima processed a record 200,000+ visa applications in FY2024. In 2023, over 330,000 Peruvians traveled to the United States.

• A network of eight American Spaces-educational centers sponsored by the U.S. Department-with 30 branches throughout Peru supports the learning of English and U.S. culture for 85,000 students per month.

• The U.S. Regional English Language Office has trained over 1,750 Peruvian teachers and provides English language instruction to an average of 60 students per year. In 2025, the Access Scholarship program will reach 220 new students ages 13-18 with a grant of $250,000 dedicated to English language instruction.