Relations between Peru and the European Union (EU) are developed under the 2003 Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement, which establishes relations between the EU and the Andean Community (CAN), composed of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.

The agreement has helped strengthen political ties and has expanded the scope of cooperation into areas such as human rights, conflict prevention, migration, the fight against drugs, terrorism and, especially, the regional integration process of the CAN.

In recent years, the EU and Peru have promoted links also on a bilateral level because of their shared ambition to strengthen and expand their political relations.

The EU and Peru hold a High Level Political Dialogue (HLPD) on an annual basis where they discuss political affairs, cooperation in multilateral fora, migration, drugs, regional development and cross border cooperation, academic and scientific cooperation, consular cooperation and other topics of mutual concern. Last HLDP took place in Lima in February 2017.

Moreover, the EU deployed EU Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) to observe the first and second round of the 2016 presidential elections, after an invitation from the Peruvian government and the electoral authorities. The EOM issued a final report that was supplied to the electoral authorities and to members-elect of Congress and of the Andean Parliament. After the EOM a Follow-up Mission took place in October 2017 with its report published in January 2018.

The comprehensive Trade Agreement liberalises trade in agricultural and industrial products as well as in a large number of services. It also contains ambitious provisions on sanitary and phytosanitary standards (SPS), technical barriers to trade, competition, customs, trade facilitation, rules of origin, intellectual property rights (including Geographical Indications) and public procurement.

The Agreement includes also a comprehensive Trade and Sustainable Development title to promote and preserve high labour and environment protection, including a transparent arbitration system and procedures to engage with civil society.

Finally, the Agreement includes arrangements for cooperation on competitiveness, innovation, production modernisation, trade facilitation and technology transfer.

The Trade Agreement between the EU and Peru has improved the already thriving trade relations between the blocks. Below are some indicators:

• The commercial exchange between Peru and the EU amounted to €8.7 billion in 2016.
• Peru is the 46th largest trading partner for the EU, to where it exports goods worth €5.138 billion.
• 55% of Peruvian exports to the EU are traditional products such as minerals, gas, copper cathodes, coffee and fishmeal. Agricultural products are now key in the Peruvian export structure representing 39% of total exports to the EU.
• The EU mainly exports machinery and transport equipment (49,4%) and chemical products (18.2%) to Peru.
• The EU is the 3rd largest trading partner for Peru and accounts for 13.5 % of its total trade.
• The EU is the first foreign investor in Peru. EU FDI stocks in Peru increased by 15% between 2013 and 2015, totalling 10.4 billion EUR in 2015. Peru's FDI stocks in the EU increased to 1.5 billion EUR in 2015, a 533% increase compared to 2013.

The European Commission provides humanitarian aid and civil protection through its directorate-general (ECHO). South America is one of the regions in the world most vulnerable to natural disasters. Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela are very exposed to earthquakes, floods, landslides, droughts, severely cold weather and volcanic eruptions. Local capacities for dealing with these disasters are limited.

Aid from the European Commission to South America focuses on providing emergency responses to natural disasters and preparing communities for future disasters by increasing resilience and preparing the most affected populations and local organisations responsible for disaster management.

You can find more details concerning actions in South America at: http://ec.europa.eu/echo/files/aid/countries/factsheets/south-america_es.pdf.

Peru and the EU develop their political relations under the 2003 Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement, and their trade relations are defined in the Trade Agreement in provisional application since 1^st March 2013, which opened their markets into a free trade area.