Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Garcia Belaunde decorated the head of Congress, Cesar Zumaeta, and a group of legislators for their support to the country’s bilateral policy and Peru’s position before the Court in The Hague.

Both the head of congress and lawmakers Lourdes Alcorta Suero, Hildebrando Tapia Samaniego, Luisa Maria Cuculiza Torre, Santiago Fujimori Fujimori, Alejandro Aguinaga Recuenco, and Rafael Vasquez Rodriguez were awarded the Gran Cruz 'El Sol del Peru’ Medal. While Congressman Luis Gonzales Posada Eyzaguirre was awarded the Gran Cruz Order of Merit for Diplomatic Service to Peru ‘Jose Gregorio Paz Soldan’, in contributing to his status as former Foreign Minister.

During his keynote address, Garcia Belaunde said that beyond an act of protocol, the award to this group of congressmen is an act of justice for the continued contribution that they have given to congress in the country's foreign policy. Accordingly, he said that despite the natural ideological differences that exist within Congress over the past five years the Foreign Ministry has been able to work with Congress on issues of national interest.

In that sense, the attitude of Congress against the presentation of the Peruvian demand before the International Court of Justice in The Hague regarding the maritime boundary agreement was signed with Ecuador. For his part, Zumaeta Flores highlighted the work that the Foreign Ministry has been developing in recent years, specifically in the area of Chile and Ecuador, and about the realization of various trade agreements.

The award ceremony for congressmen was held at the Cultural Center 'Inca Garcilaso de la Vega', located on the premises of the Palace of Torre Tagle. On the other hand, the Foreign Minister said that President-elect Ollanta Humala Tasso will make his the most appropriate decision for his team and actions related to the demand brought by Peru to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, to determine maritime boundaries with Chile.

The foreign minister expressed his full readiness to answer any queries made by Humala Tasso. “He has said he wants to meet with me; I received the message and obviously when he has time I will interview with him. I'll talk about all that is necessary and absolve any consultations that he has for me; I've always spoken with great sincerity and transparency and I'm not going to stop doing it.”

He also considered that we should no longer continue to talk about the team in charge of matters related to the lawsuit that Peru brought to The Hague. “Clearly there is a first class team that has worked and the president has every right in the world to learn and make the decision he deems appropriate.” He said he personally has the satisfaction of having advanced the issue and having done things very well.

”And people will judge; when documents open to the public, which Peru has submitted to the Hague tribunal, they quality of work that has been done will be noted.” A change in the team members for The Hague could harm the respective process, said Garcia Belaunde responding that it’s better to keep things as they are. “I am of the opinion that the team should be strengthened, if we want new people, but I will not tell President Humala what to do.”

In any case, he said the report presented by Peru is a collective work of many people, in which foreign lawyers played a role as much as Peruvians did. “The memoir is written both in Lima and Paris and all participate in it,” he said. About the possibility of integrating Mercosur as a full member, he said that from the statements that have been made about it, he understands that Humala wants a more active participation in political mechanisms. “Being a full member of Mercosur would adopt the common external tariff and, therefore, we would have to give up the free trade.”

He said that obviously that would be a bad deal because the Mercosur market is smaller than that involving those of the FTA, like the one with China, the European Union, and United States. But he said there is nothing to prevent a deeper involvement in political and social mechanisms of this system. Later, the transcendental considered Peru's participation in the so-called Pacific Alliance.

“It is very important because we are allied countries and many economies have agreements with the United States and the European Union, plus two of these four countries have agreements with China, then it is very easy to integrate with nations that have such business agreements,” he said, even if it will correspond to the new head of state to assess this issue.

MORE NEWS: www.bizusaperu.com