Belt and Road Initiative to help drive global trade - Peruvian expert

LIMA - The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative will help boost global trade in the long term, said a Peruvian expert.

"I feel the initiative is favorable for free trade and for the development of people in countries involved," Juan Carbajal, a political analyst at the National University of San Marcos in Lima, Peru, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative aims to build trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes. It comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

Carbajal said the Belt and Road Initiative which seeks to integrate the world has received enthusiastic responses from participating countries.

Over the past few years, the initiative has encouraged the building of ports, industrial parks, pipelines and electric networks, which have boosted various economies, according to the expert.

"An initiative of this nature opens avenues for growth and development at various levels, not only along the route being established, but all around the participating countries," he said.

Carbajal said Peru, as a trading partner of China, can definitely benefit from the initiative.

The China-Peru free trade agreement, which went into effect in 2010, has removed obstacles to bilateral commercial exchanges, Carbajal said.

The expert said Peruvian products, under the initiative, will have the opportunity to broaden their presence in Asian and European markets.

"Peruvian products will enter not only the Chinese market, but also all the countries involved in this new trade route," he said.

The analyst also sees the initiative as a way for Peru to fulfill its goal to become a platform for trade between Asia and South America.