"I would like to reiterate our commitment to a free trade accord for all of the Americas, as well as our particular interest in brokering a bilateral trade deal as quickly as possible," President Alejandro Toledo told reporters as he received the new U.S. ambassador in Peru, John R. Dawson, on Monday.

Toledo, who took office last year promising to fight poverty, is shooting for a bilateral U.S. deal -- like the one its neighbor, Chile, has in the works with the United States -- even as Peru gears up for the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

That pact, which would loosen trade from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, is slated to be wrapped up in 2005.

"Peru and United States are top-priority partners," Toledo added. Trade between Peru and the United States totaled $3.3 billion in 2001, according to official figures.

Evans, who is due to meet with Toledo on Monday evening and visit a Lima shantytown on Tuesday, will be accompanied by a team of high-level U.S. business leaders.

That team includes representatives from AT&T Latin America Corp., BellSouth International, a unit of BellSouth Corp., Hunt Oil Co. and PSEG Energy Holdings .

Officials have been upbeat about U.S. trade prospects since the approval in August of the much-vaunted Andean Trade Preference and Drug Eradication Act.

That deal gives duty-free access to U.S. markets for goods like tuna and apparel to the world's top cocaine-producing nations Colombia, Peru, Bolivia -- and in time to Ecuador -- in exchange for effective anti-drug efforts.

Peru, Latin America's No. 7 economy, is emerging from a four-year downturn. Toledo said on the weekend that the economy could grow by as much as 6 percent next year.

Proving to foreign investors that Peru is a safe place to invest -- especially given Latin America's gloomy economic outlook -- is seen as key to helping sustain growth.

Evans is scheduled to visit Santiago, Chile, after Peru.