Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, arrived here Sunday, kicking off his official good-will visit to this South American country. The following are some basic facts about Peru.
Bordered by Ecuador and Colombia to the north, Brazil and Bolivia to the east and Chile to the south, the Republic of Peru is located in western South America. With an area of 1.29 million square km and Lima as its capital, Peru has a population of some 28.22 million, including Amerindians, Indian-Europeans, Europeans and others. The country's official
language is Spanish.
Peru has rich mineral resources, with bismuth and vanadium deposits ranking first in the world, copper the third and silver and zinc the fourth respectively.
Oil and gas are also important natural resources in Peru, with proven reserves of oil estimated at 400 million barrels and that of gas 7.1 trillion cubic feet. The country boasts abundant hydraulic and marine resources as well.
A traditionally agricultural and mining country, Peru enjoys a higher level of economic development among Latin American countries.
The country's agricultural products include cash and grain crops, with coffee, asparagus and cotton as its main exports while rice and potato its main grain crops. Peru is also a leading producer of fish meat and fish oil in the world.
Peru, cradle of Inca civilization, boasts flourishing tourism. Overseas tourist arrivals reached some 1.95 million in 2008, earning the country 2.4 billion dollars.
Peru established diplomatic relations with China on Nov. 2, 1971. Since then, bilateral ties have developed smoothly with frequent exchanges of high-level visits, enhanced trade and economic cooperation and increased exchanges in culture, education, science and technology.
Bilateral trade reached 7.48 billion dollars in 2008, up 24.3 percent from the previous year.