Peru's Toledo wants tripled German investment

LIMA, Peru, March 4 (Reuters) - Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo said Monday he hopes to boost trade with Germany and increase investment from Europe's top economy threefold by 2006. 

"I want to end my presidency with at least tripled investment from Germany," Toledo said in a ceremony welcoming German Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Joschka Fischer to an official visit in Lima. 

In 2000, according to official figures, German investment in Peru was $69.2 million, most of which went to business and industrial sectors. According to state figures, Germany in 2000 was the sixth largest European investor in Peru, trailing far behind former colonial power Spain with $2.4 billion. 

Peru, shackled by extensive poverty and lack of employment, is betting on foreign investment to help revive its economy. 

The gross domestic product in Latin America's No. 7 economy grew just 0.2 percent in 2001, but officials forecast growth of between 3.5 and 4.0 percent for this year. 

State privatization board COPRI has said it hopes to raise $1.1 billion in selling or contracting state assets this year, of which $700 million could come before July. 

One major German-led investment group has said it will spend $80 million to $100 million in three years to modernize Peru's chief airport. 

Lima Airport Partners, which includes Flughafen Frankfurt Main (Fraport) (FRAG.DE) as well as U.S. Bechtel Enterprises and Peru's Cosapi, has a 30-year concession for the airport and says it has already spent $36 million. 

Officials are also hoping to boost exports, which in 2000 totaled around $7.02 billion. About half of that came from mining and oil. 

Preliminary government figures put Peruvian exports to Germany at $207.6 million in 2001, while German imports to Peru were $207.9 million. 

Toledo, the U.S. trained economist who took office last July promising 1 million new jobs and a war on poverty, is due to travel to Berlin in May. 

Fischer also applauded Toledo's government for steering Peru back to democracy after a decade of hard-line rule under ex-President Alberto Fujimori, who fled to Japan in November 2000 during a corruption scandal. 

The German official, who Tuesday is due to visit the famed mountaintop Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, heads to Chile and Argentina after leaving Lima. 

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