Alvaro Silva-Santisteban is the director of the Peruvian trade, tourism and investment office Promperu. Jaime Puebla / The National
Alvaro Silva-Santisteban is the director of the Peruvian trade, tourism and investment office Promperu. Jaime Puebla / The National
Alvaro Silva-Santisteban is the director of the Peruvian trade, tourism and investment office Promperu. Jaime Puebla / The National
Alvaro Silva-Santisteban is the director of the Peruvian trade, tourism and investment office Promperu. Jaime Puebla / The National

Peru goes in search of tighter ties with UAE


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  • Arabic

Alvaro Silva-Santisteban, director of the Peruvian trade, tourism and investment office Promperu, seeks greater exposure of his country in the Emirates. Based in Dubai, Mr Silva-Santisteban talks about ways trade and tourism between the two countries can improve.

Your office opened in Dubai in September 2011. How has the relationship between the UAE and Peru developed over the past two years?

We need to educate both sides - Peruvians and the people in the UAE - about the two countries. From the Gulf we estimate 6,000 tourists went to Peru and within 1,000 from the UAE. About 1,000 tourists from Peru visited the UAE last year. In 2012, we had around 19 commercial missions between Peru and Dubai. This year we expect around 24. [Today and tomorrow], a 40-member delegation from Peru will visit Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Among these 30 will be businessmen from Peru.

What are the trade figures between the two countries?

Last year, Peru exported goods worth between US$25 million and $30m to the UAE. The growth in 2010 and 2011 was very little. But this year is going to be a stepping stone in the relations between the UAE and Peru. From 2010 until now, the UAE has invested between $1.3 billion and $1.5bn in Peru.

DP World's investment in Peru's leading port, at Callao, can be considered the flagship UAE investment in your country. Who are the others investing there?

Ipic [International Petroleum Investment Company] has three exploration wells and is bidding for two more, Abraaj Capital and General Petroleum are also investing. Ipic through its 100 per cent-owned subsidiary Cepsa has invested in oilfields.

Food security is a big issue in the UAE and a delegation from Peru visited the UAE in search of investment in the H2 Olmos project in 2010. How did that go?

So far no UAE company has invested in that project yet. In this project, land was allocated for Arab investors.

How could direct trade increase between the two countries?

Currently there are no direct flights between the UAE and Peru, though there are to other South American countries. We need to increase connectivity. With that there would be an increase in brand awareness and investments, as well as an increase in tourism. Many food [products] and beverages come to the UAE through the United States and Europe, especially the Netherlands, such as asparagus, grapes, mangoes, cacao, evaporated milk and quinoa. Peru also has those products and we are trying to promote these.

But the distance is a hindrance?

Produce can be shipped in 32 days, now it is taking 45 days from Peru to Dubai. But we have a competitive advantage of having DP World, where goods could be shipped through an Emirati port in Peru to an Emirati company here. Mangoes are big here, and our own produce takes place when it is off season in India, and pricewise not very far off. So, people here can enjoy 365 days of mangoes. Same goes for avocados.

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Infiniti QX80 specs

Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6

Power: 450hp

Torque: 700Nm

Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000

Available: Now

The UAE squad for the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games

The jiu-jitsu men’s team: Faisal Al Ketbi, Zayed Al Kaabi, Yahia Al Hammadi, Taleb Al Kirbi, Obaid Al Nuaimi, Omar Al Fadhli, Zayed Al Mansoori, Saeed Al Mazroui, Ibrahim Al Hosani, Mohammed Al Qubaisi, Salem Al Suwaidi, Khalfan Belhol, Saood Al Hammadi.

Women’s team: Mouza Al Shamsi, Wadeema Al Yafei, Reem Al Hashmi, Mahra Al Hanaei, Bashayer Al Matrooshi, Hessa Thani, Salwa Al Ali.

Our legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.

Part three: an affection for classic cars lives on

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if you go
Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
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  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
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  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm

Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm

Transmission: 9-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh117,059

Meydan racecard:

6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2 (PA) Group 1 | US$75,000 (Dirt) | 2,200 metres

7.05pm: UAE 1000 Guineas (TB) Listed | $250,000 (D) 1,600m

7.40pm: Meydan Classic Trial (TB) Conditions $100,000 (Turf) 1,400m

8.15pm: Al Shindagha Sprint (TB) Group 3 $200,000 (D) 1,200m

8.50pm: Handicap (TB) $175,000 (D) 1,600m

9.25pm: Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) | 2,000m

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U16 Age Group
Name: Mehdi Elkhamlichi (Malaga)
Position: Lead Striker
Nationality: Morocco

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The White Lotus: Season three

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UAE-Russia ties stretch back 48 years

Trade between the UAE and Russia reached Dh12.5 bn in 2018

More than 3,000 Russian companies are registered in the UAE

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Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

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Formula One top 10 drivers' standings after Japan

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes 306
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari 247
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes 234
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull 192
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari 148
6. Max Verstappen, Red Bull 111
7. Sergio Perez, Force India 82
8. Esteban Ocon, Force India 65
9. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso 48
10. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault 34