The Bioceanic Train project, which will link the Atlantic with the Pacific, will be one of the central themes of the meeting between Bolivia and Peru, scheduled for this week in Lima.
The corridor will be 700 kilometers long, will start from the port of Santos, in Brazil, and will cross the Andes mountain range and the Bolivian Amazon rainforest., and will enter Peruvian territory to end at the Ilo maritime terminal.
The initiative, promoted by the government of President Evo Morales, will benefit six of the 12 South American nations and will require an investment of more than 10 billion dollars.
For Bolivia the work is vital because this country lost its access to the sea after a Chilean invasion in 1879 and now depends on Chilean ports for its foreign trade.
Hence, another of the topics of the binational meeting is the consolidation of Peruvian port of Ilo for Bolivian access to the Pacific Ocean, Huanacuni said.
According to the minister, the idea is to build a megaport near Ilo, as an alternative to the existing one, to meet the needs of its overseas trade.
Bolivia has already signed an agreement with Peru to redirect around 60 thousand tons of cargo through that maritime terminal.
The binational cabinet meeting will take place in the Peruvian capital next Friday and will be headed by Presidents Evo Morales and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.
Other topics of the meeting are: security and defense, Lake Titicaca shared by the two countries, integration, trade and the fight against human trafficking.
Huanacuni insisted on the need to coordinate the fight against transnational crimes.
The Lima meeting follows those held in Sucre in 2016 and Cusco in 2015.
Source: Telam
Aduana News is the first Argentine customs newspaper to launch its digital version. With 20 years of experience, its publications and initiatives aim to provide the most relevant knowledge on customs issues in order to contribute to safe trade in the region.
