Brazilian, Peruvian presidents praise strategic alliance

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Monday highlighted the strategic alliance between her country and Peru, which she said has contributed to the social and economic development of both peoples in the past 10 years. Rousseff is paying an official visit to Lima as part of the 10th anniversary of the implementation of the Brazil-Peru Strategic Alliance. Rousseff told a press conference after meeting her Peruvian counterpart Ollanta Humala that "the Strategic Alliance between Brazil and Peru has arrived at a new threshold and it will lead us to improve the quality of life of the Peruvian and Brazilian peoples." Humala, on the occasion, also praised the strategic alliance and bilateral integration between Peru and Brazil, saying that these ties are irreversible. "This is an important day because the strategic alliance of Peru and Brazil is strengthening and it is drawing the path towards a relation of strategic association," said Humala. The two presidents signed three bilateral agreements with the first one on labor cooperation to facilitate Peruvian citizens to work in Brazil, the second on communications to allow the users of mobile phones in the border zones to have a local rate instead of the international rate and the third on environment seeking the protection of common rivers in the Amazonian zones in both countries to guarantee the quality of water for their populations. The two leaders highlighted the integration role of the Inter- Oceanic Highway that links the Peruvian Amazonian region of Madre de Dios with the Brazilian state of Acre. The two presidents also referred to the necessity of a working group to carry out the railway integration between the two countries, as part of the will to achieve the bilateral integration. According to Rousseff, as part of the Strategic Alliance, Brazilian investments in Peru in the past 10 years reached 6 billion U.S. dollars. "In Latin America, Peru is the third destination of the Brazilian investments," she said. Rousseff said that Peru and Brazil have decided to deepen bilateral integration in the coming years for the welfare of both peoples. Rousseff also suggested both countries continue working for the integration of the Union of South American Nations, of which both countries are members.