A celebration of friendship between UK and Peru

• This Sunday 21^st of April we celebrate The Queen’s birthday, an opportunity to celebrate the good relationship between our countries as well.

I am frequently asked by children here what the difference is between Great Britain and Scotland and England and the United Kingdom.  It can seem rather complicated, I know.  In the United Kingdom we don’t have a patron saint, for example.  Rather we have four of them:  Saint George for England; Saint Andrew for Scotland; Saint David for Wales; and Saint Patrick for Northern Ireland.  The United Kingdom of Great Britain dates back to the passing of the Act of Union by the English and Scottish parliaments in 1707.  Ireland joined the union in 1800.  And the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has existed since the creation of the Irish Free State, now the Republic of Ireland, in 1922.

We are also unusual in not having a national day.  Instead, we mark The Queen’s birthday each year.  Her Majesty Elizabeth II celebrates her eighty-seventh birthday this Sunday, 21^st of April.  She has been Queen for more than sixty-one of those years.

Last year, we celebrated The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, her sixty years on the throne.  This very special occasion was celebrated in other countries where The Queen is also head of state, Australia and Canada, Jamaica, and New Zealand among them.  For everyone in Britain, and for friends of Britain around the world, the London Olympic and Paralympics Games also made 2012 a year to remember.

In 1823, a hundred and ninety years ago this year, the first British Consul General in Peru arrived in Callao on board HMS Cambridge.  He was called Thomas Rowcroft and the Republic of Peru had been created only two years earlier.  The relationship between Britain and the young republic grew quickly.  People began to emigrate here and British investors were soon putting their money into mining, the construction of railways and other projects up and down the country.  By the 1830s, more than 50% of all Peru’s imports were coming from the United Kingdom.

The fact that Peru and Britain have been good friends for 190 years is something I see reflected in the breadth and depth of the relationship we enjoy today.  I meet so many Peruvians who tell me “My grandfather came from Scotland” or “My great-grandmother came from London”.  Our bilateral trade grew last year by a healthy amount.  Every week more British companies are coming to my commercial team in the Embassy, UKTI (UK Trade & Investment Peru), attracted by the spectacular economic growth that Peru continues to enjoy, by the opportunities for doing business and developing long-term relationships.  It is a two-way growth: if you visit a supermarket in Manchester or Belfast, Edinburgh or Cardiff today, you will see asparagus, arvejas, grapes, mangoes, chocolate and coffee from Peru.

We are working closely on important climate change issues, with national and local government, civil society and industry.  Britain and Peru are doing an increasing amount together in the fight against the international narcotics industry that threatens society in our two countries.  I see the breadth and depth of our relationship reflected in the educational traditions that join our countries – here in Lima, in Arequipa, in Trujillo, elsewhere.  Three of the top ten universities in the world are in the United Kingdom – we are looking forward to having more Peruvian scholars studying at them.

In short, there is lots happening.  And there is lots more that Peru and Britain have to look forward to.  My thanks to everyone who is playing a part in helping this relationship to flourish and to grow.

I am sure all of you will join me in wishing Her Majesty The Queen a very Happy Birthday.