Toledo sees mining investment and development as vital to South American nation's economic growth

A leading candidate for president in Peru's coming national election took his campaign this week to Vancouver.

Alejandro Toledo, who is seeking a return to the top office after serving as president from 2001 to 2006, believes that mineral resource development can be a central pillar of economic expansion for the South American nation.

But not at any cost.

In a series of group and one-on-one meetings with business leaders, mining companies, investment bankers and the media, he indicated that his Peru Possible party is prepared to refine the nation as a secure jurisdiction for mineral exploration and mine development -through legal and legislative reforms that protect investors.

However, he emphasized in an interview, there's a price for that security -support for local communities, and respect for the environment.

Vancouver, as an international centre for mineral exploration investment and mine engineering, was a logical destination for Toledo, who is shoring up his campaign platform after announcing his candidacy on Nov. 10. Other stops on a four-day trip included New York and Washington, D.C.

Peru's annual economic growth has largely paralleled China's over the past nine years and Toledo believes that in the right economic climate, the growth rate can be sustained.

"One of the reasons why I have interrupted my campaign ... is that I wanted to transmit the message to potential investors -investors who are already involved in Peru, and who are potential investors, that we are interested in their investments," Toledo said.

"We want to ensure the needed political, social and legal stability to attract capital investment. The country has been growing at an average rate of nine per cent in the past if we [leave out] 2008."

Toledo said he wants to "consolidate" that rate of growth, and he has been promising investors as well as partners in trade and investment in Canada that Peru will "guarantee" stability for future investment.

Peru is the world's third-largest copper and zinc producer, and fifth-largest gold producer. But it also has attracted adverse attention from investors due to occasional community protests over mining-related issues such as resource revenue sharing and environmental impacts.

Canada and Peru signed a mutual free trade agreement in 2009.

Toledo, who says early poll results are promising, wants to assure existing investors as well as potential ones, that Peru Possible will respect agreements that are already in place.

Toledo rose from humble beginnings to become the first member of an indigenous tribal group to become president under the banner of the Peru Possible party.

In recent years, he has been a globe-hopping academic in the style of Michael Ignatieff.

A Stanford University economics PhD, he's currently a visiting scholar at Johns Hopkins University and before that, occupied a similar role at Stanford.

"That economic growth consolidation needs to be accompanied by all elements -such as attention to the social dimension of the development equation.

"We need to invest more in reserving the high levels of early [childhood] malnutrition. We need to [increase] access to potable water and sanitation, to child care and educational quality.

"We need to access energy to the rural areas. We want to make accessible the Internet to the most remote areas of the country -free Internet for everyone."

He's also promising "drastic" state reform particularly in the judicial system.

"We know that we are competing in the world for capital investment. Investors go where there is stability, particularly the rule of law.

"If we sign a contract we may disagree at the table about the terms of the contract but once we have signed it, that's what we respect."

He said the government also will "demand from the investors certain rules of the day" such as responsible development and the development of local benefits from resource activities.

"Investors need to comply with certain environmental requirements, particularly in ... oil, mining, and gas. We need to be assured that they are able to comply. They cannot have a blank cheque to contaminate the rivers, to deforest the jungle or the Andes.

"They need to be fully aware of the needed sensitivity in the relationship between the community and the site where the mine is. People need to feel that this will be part of the community, that they are not being exploited, and that they are also receiving some benefits of the exploration of the resources."

That would include worker safety, he said.

"It's a risky business working in mining, so workers need to have some assurance that the company is taking precautions to ensure that."

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Peruvian presidential candidate Alejandro Toledo talks about mining opportunities during his visit to Vancouver on Thursday.

Photograph by: Glenn Baglo, PNG