H.E. Carlos Raúl Vásquez Corrales - Mission Accomplished!

*Ambassador Carlos Vásquez Corrales in conversation with Ms Nomita Dhar*

The former Peruvian Ambassador to Singapore can proudly look back to share the many milestones the country achieved with IN Diplomacy Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Ms Nomita Dhar

EXCELLENCY, congratulations for bringing the relationship between Singapore and Peru to such amazing heights and for the successful completion of your tenure. How was journey in Singapore?

I came in September 2018 and it has been a very interesting five years with all the ups and downs because of the effects of the pandemic. When we arrived here, we had a very specific problem: to reinforce the bilateral links between Peru and Singapore through several very important mechanisms.

One was the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) – an FTA between Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam). And the other was the Pacific Alliance. We were involved in negotiations with Singapore to finally conclude and sign the agreement. It was a very prolonged and difficult negotiation, but we made it despite the effects of the pandemic. There were many virtual negotiating sessions but finally, we were able to sign the Pacific Alliance (PA) Agreement with Singapore in February 2022.

Then three and a half years into my tenure here Peru decided to join Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA). Finally, my country was completely persuaded about the benefits to join this very important partnership in the digital realm. Peru has already presented an official request to join DEPA, and the state partners of this agreement are assessing the Peruvian request. We hope to join by 2024.

But in general terms, to make Peru more known to Singaporeans, we also organized many cultural events during the past five years, even if it had to be in a virtual setting. These included seven film festivals and exhibitions such as the one on photography of the 12 Peruvian sites registered in the UNESCO World Heritage List. It was held in the Singapore Botanic Gardens in 2021 to celebrate the bicentennial of the Peruvian independence.

Ambassador, you had an almost 360-degree engagement with Singapore and helped raise Peru’s diplomatic profile and engagement that also left a mark in many of us here and we are grateful for that. Thank you too for supporting our World Opportunities Forum. It’s been a pleasure working with you. I hope things get better and the distance shorter between Singapore and Peru.

I will still be keeping in touch with Asian countries in Peru as I am going to assume a new role as Chair of the Senior Official Meetings of APEC. APEC is going to take place in my country next year. We have to organise more than 100 meetings, similar to the G20 organised by India this year. While there are 20 country members in the G20, there are 21 members’ economies (including Singapore) in APEC.

The position that I am going to assume is to propitiate a common ground for consensus because all the decisions in APEC have to be made by consensus, so it’s going to be a very challenging job but very stimulating at the same time. This is going to allow me to continue being in touch with Asian countries because many of the Southeast Asian countries here are member economies of APEC: Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, and important economies in Northern Asia like Japan, Korea, and China. Other member economies are Australia and New Zealand, Russia, United States, Mexico, Chile, Peru and Papua New Guinea.

When this Asia Pacific community meets in Peru next year, it’s going to be a very good opportunity for my country to showcase not just the advancements of Peru in the last few years, but to also reinforce our links together.
Tourist numbers to Peru flourished for a little while pre-pandemic. How is it now?
Before the pandemic, there was a very significant increase for Singaporean visits to my country in 2017- it was approx. 2000 travellers. It wasn’t many, but in a short frame of time by 2019, it increased to 3,000! In only two years, there was an increase of almost 30%!

There were many plans made by Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tourism to promote tourism by developing many events in Singapore to reinforce its (tourism) strength. Unfortunately, due to the start of the pandemic in 2020, Singaporean tourist found it very, very, very difficult to visit through Peru. Now, we are renewing our efforts to promote visits from Singaporeans.

The previous trend is starting to register again from a low base of around 800 Singaporeans last year but apparently there is already increased interest by travellers here to visit my country. I think the Orchids of Machu Picchu exhibition in August at Gardens by the Bay contributed to this heightened interest. Machu Picchu is one of Peru’s, indeed South America’s most important tourist attractions.

Ambassador, you’ve been very close to the Diplomatic Corps, do you have any message for them?
I have developed very good relations with my colleagues. I think it’s extremely important for an ambassador to establish the largest social network possible, not only for the benefit of his or her own country but to be able to enjoy life – that too is very important.

I would like to tell my colleagues that Singapore is a magnificent diplomatic posting and that they should take advantage of the privilege of living and working here. And I think the diplomatic corps here is very united group. We frequently meet and celebrate and are close together. I think that is very important for my colleagues to notice all the opportunities here not only in terms of business, trade or investment, but also in terms of health promotion, gastronomic promotion, even social promotion that Singapore offers here in South East Asia!