Peruvian Trade and Tourism Minister Mercedes Araoz said Wednesday that eight world leaders have confirmed their presence at the upcoming leaders' meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) in Lima next week.
The leaders are from China, the United States, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Canada and Australia, Araoz said.
Chinese President Hu Jintao will be the first to come, accompanied by a delegation of businessmen who have showed interest in investing in Peru, the minister said.
Important announcements related to a free trade agreement (FTA) between China and Peru will be made during Hu's visit, she said.
During the official visit of U.S. President George W. Bush, Araoz said, his country will announce the full validity of the Peru-U.S. FTA on Jan. 1, 2009.
According to the minister, Peru is also expecting a commercial agreement with South Korea on the occasion of the APEC leaders' meeting.
Peru has a very persistent agenda to broaden its approach to other APEC economies and to strike more commercial bilateral cooperation agreements with others, Araoz said.
"For Peru, APEC is fundamental because it represents a very important amount at the commercial exchange," she added.
The APEC meeting will begin on Nov. 16 and will last a week with the summit slated for Nov. 22 -23.
APEC is composed of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, South Korea, the United States, the Philippines, China's Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, Chinese Taipei and Vietnam.