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| Korea Eximbank President Lee Duk-hoon, right, and Peru's energy minister Rosa Maria Ortiz Rios sign an agreement for business tie-ups on infrastructure development projects in the Latin American country, at the energy ministry building on Monday on the sidelines of President Park Geun-hye's 12-day state visit to South America that ends on April 27. / Courtesy of Korea Eximbank |
By Choi Kyong-ae
The national export-import bank, Korea Eximbank, said Tuesday that it will cooperate with Peru's energy ministry for business opportunities in the Latin American country on the sidelines of President Park Geun-hye's state visit there.
Korea Eximbank Chairman and President Lee Duk-hoon signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Peru's energy minister Rosa Maria Ortiz Rios on April 20 to seek joint projects involving energy, mining and development, the state-owned bank said in a statement.
Under the initial pact, Korea Eximbank and the Peruvian energy ministry agreed to cooperate in building a $13 billion petrochemical complex in Peru, the statement said.
"We expect the MOU will pave the way for increased advances of Korean companies in the petrochemical and construction markets in Peru and other Latin American markets," Eximbank President Lee said in the statement.
To push forward these joint projects, Eximbank plans to invite energy officials from Peru to Korea later this year. These officials will then give a briefing on their petrochemical complex projects to Korean companies to promote possible partnership agreements, the bank said.
Meanwhile, Eximbank also signed an MOU with Peru's investment promotion agency to share information about the government's public-private partnership (PPP) projects with Korean companies. Eximbank has helped Korean builders such as Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Daewoo Engineering & Construction by offering finance for their overseas projects, according to the statement.
Currently in Peru, some 60 PPP-type infrastructure development projects are set to receive bids in the fields of power generation, roads and telecommunications, the statement said.
To raise their chances of winning those projects, Korean companies are required to inject their own cash as well as loans extended by Eximbank, the bank said.
Next month, Eximbank and the Peruvian investment promotion agency plan to offer a briefing on the planned PPP projects in Peru and discuss ways for Eximbank to finance the projects, it said.
President Park is currently on a trip to four major Pacific Rim partners in South America ― Columbia, Chile, Peru and Brazil ― to seek ways to strengthen the partnerships beyond the economy to health care, education and information-technology.
Park is scheduled to return to Korea on April 27 after her 12-day trip to the less-developed, but resource-rich countries.
Korea regards South America as a new growth engine overseas as the continent posted 6 trillion dollars in combined gross domestic product last year and has a population of 600 million.
