Foreign Affairs

The tenth anniversary of the Strategic Alliance between Brazil and Peru was commemorated in 2013. To celebrate de date, President Dilma Rousseff made an official visit to Peru on November 11. The main objectives of the Brazil-Peru Strategic Alliance include cooperation (mainly in social issues and security matters) and integration in the fields of infrastructure, border, economy and trade.

With regard to physical integration, once the Interoceanic Highway was opened in 2011, connecting the State of Acre to the Pacific Ocean, the two countries started to examine a project for a two-ocean railway, outlined in the Brazil-Peru-China Memorandum of Understanding signed in May 2015. These projects are strategic for the integration of the economies of the North and Center-West of Brazil with those of Peru and the Pacific

Among the issues for cooperation in social matters, health and education should be stressed. In the area of health, Brazil participated actively in the establishment of a model similar to the Mobile Urgent Response Service (SAMU) in Peru, in 2012, and has rendered assistance in the production of medicines against malaria and tuberculosis and in the creation of a system similar to “Popular Pharmacy”. In the field of educational cooperation, Peru is among the countries sending the largest number of students for graduation and post-graduation programs in Brazil. As for cooperation in security matters, the ongoing integration of Peru to the System of Vigilance and Protection of the Amazon (SIVAM) must be highlighted.

Border integration is one of the important issues in the bilateral relation. In 2009, the two countries signed an agreement to establish a Zone of Border Integration (ZIF). With funding from the Andean Promotion Corporation (CAF), Brazil and Peru are outlining plans for the development of the ZIF through projects in areas such as facilitation of border transit and /trade, development of basic social services, development of highway transportation, physical, energy and telecommunications development,  and cooperation in environmental matters, among others. During the visit of President Dilma to Peru in 2013 an agreement on the elimination of mobile roaming fees in the border region was signed.

In the field of economic and commercial integration, the Economic Complementation Agreement no. 58 (ACE-58) signed in November 2005 between MERCOSUR and Peru, which provides for total tariff elimination by 2019, accounted for an increase of about 120% in the commercial exchanges between Brazil and Peru during the past ten years. In order to advance further in this area, the two countries established in 2015 a new economic and commercial agenda, with negotiations to accelerate the ACE-58 timetable of tariff elimination, investments, services, government procurement and trade facilitation, aimed precisely at that objective.

Chronology of bilateral relations

1826 – Under the government of Simón Bolívar, Peru appoints José Domingos Cáceres as its first Chargé d’Affaires in Rio de Janeiro

1828 – Withdrawal of Domingos Cáceres from Rio de Janeiro after the signature of the Piquiza Treaty between Peru and Bolivia. Under this Treaty, the two republics committed not to develop relations with Brazil until the Empire established peace with the United Provinces (Argentina) in the Cisplatin War

1829 – Duarte da Ponte Ribeiro is appointed as first Chargé d’Affaires of the Brazilian Empire in Lima

1851 – Signature of the Special Convention on Trade, Navigation and Limits with Peru, which defines the border along the Javari River and the Tabatinga-Apapóris line, on the basis of uti possidetis, and grants Peru the right of free navigation in the Amazon River

1867 – Brazil severs diplomatic relations with Peru due to the Peruvian support to Paraguay in the Triple Alliance War

1869 – Reestablishment of diplomatic relations

1876 – Signature of the Agreement on Free Navigation in the Içá, or Putumayo, River

1904 – A new bilateral Border Treaty ratifies the Tabatinga-Apapóris line as the border

1909 – Signature of the bilateral Treaty on Borders and Navigation, through which the remainder of the border with Peru is negotiated, corresponding to the territory of Acre

1925 – Minute of Washington, signed by Brazil, Colombia and Peru, confirms the Tabatinga-Apapóris line also as the border between Brazil and Colombia

1942 – Signature of the Rio de Janeiro Protocol. Brazil is one of the guarantors of the pact, which sets the disputed border between Peru and Ecuador

1981 – President João Figueiredo travels to Peru (first visit of a Brazilian President). Signature of the Agreement on Highway Interconnection

1987 – Creation of the Binational Working Group on Amazon Cooperation and Border Development (GTB)

1995 – Hostilities between Peru and Ecuador resume due to the dispute over the Cenepa Valley. Brazil acts as coordinator of the guarantor countries of the 1942 Protocol and sponsors the Itamaraty Declaration of Peace

1998 – Signature of the Brasília Peace Agreements between Peru and Ecuador

2003 – President Lula visits Lima. Signature of the Mercosur-Peru Economic Complementation Agreement (ACE-58) and the Memorandum of Understanding on Protection and Vigilance of the Amazon Region, bases for the “Strategic Alliance” with Peru, launched at the occasion

2005 – Construction of the Interoceanic Highway between Brazil and Peru begins

2009 – Peru announces the adoption of the ISDB-T standard in digital television

2009 – Visit of President Lula to Lima, on December 11. On the occasion, agreement to establish the Brazil-Peru Zone of Border Integration (ZIF) and the Vice-Ministerial Commission on Border Integration (CVIF) is signed

2011 – The Interoceanic Highway, connecting the state of Acre to the Pacific, is completed in September

2011 – The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru, Rafael Roncagliolo, visits Brazil, occasion when he is received by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio de Aguiar Patriota. It is the first official visit of the Peruvian Foreign Minister to Brazil (31 October)

2012 – The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru, Rafael Roncagliolo, visits Brazil (March 1)

2012 – Meeting of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, with Peruvian Foreign Minister Rafael Roncagliolo in Lima, on August 6

2013 – APEX/MDIC business mission to Lima with 49 Brazilian companies, on May 23

2013 – Peruvian Foreign Minister Eda Rivas makes an official visit to Brasília on July 24 and meets with Minister Antonio de Aguiar Patriota

2013 – President Dilma Rousseff makes an official visit to Peru on November 11. Signature of agreement on the elimination of mobile roaming fees in the border region

2014 – In July, President Ollanta Humala visited Brazil to participate in the BRICS-South American countries Summit and in the China-Latin American and the Caribbean Leaders' Summit

2015 – On July 7, in Brasília, the Fifth Meeting of the Ministerial Commission on Border Integration (V CVIF) and the Eleventh Brazil-Peru Political Consultation Meeting are held under the co-chairmanship of the Secretary General of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Sérgio Danese, and the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister of Peru, Ambassador Julio Eduardo Martinetti

2016 – Visit of Ministro Mauro Vieira and of the Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Armando Monteiro Neto, to Lima; signing of the Brazil-Peru Economic and Trading Expansion Agreement (April 28)