LIMA (AFP)--Australia is to reopen its embassy in Peru to boost business and trade opportunities, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told a group of Australian industry chiefs on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima.
"We're looking at opening the embassy in 2010," Rudd told the small gathering after delivering a speech at the Asia-Pacific meeting Friday calling for APEC economies to build up trade to mitigate the effects of the global economic crisis.
Sam Walsh, the head of the Iron Ore group of Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto (RTP), told AFP the development was "good news" for Australian companies doing business in Peru.
The South American nation has big reserves of copper, silver and zinc, which has attracted the attention of Australian mining groups including Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton (BHP).
Australia's embassy in Lima was closed in 1986, when Peru was in the grips of a Marxist insurgency that is now all but stamped out.
Currently, Australia is represented by a consulate in the Peruvian capital. All embassy-level matters are carried out by the Australian embassy in neighboring Chile.
Peruvians wanting to travel to Australia have had to organize their visas through Chile's embassy, which has proved an obstacle for tourists and businessmen alike.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 22, 2008 15:31 ET (20:31 GMT)

Publié le 22 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones