President Ma welcomes former Peruvian leader

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday met with visiting former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo, an economist-turned-politician who is well known for attaining high economic growth for Peru during his presidency from 2001 to 2006.

Toledo received wide-ranging support from the Peruvian people during his presidential term and continues to take part in many international activities since stepping down, which has won him high acclaim worldwide, Ma said.

Toledo’s acceptance of Taiwan’s invitation to visit the country to discuss democracy issues makes Taiwan feel Toledo is “a friend of Taiwan in Latin America,” Ma said.

At the invitation of the New Taiwanese Cultural Foundation that Ma founded in 1999, Toledo was scheduled to deliver a speech titled “The Political Economy of Democracy: Poverty, Growth and Economy” today in Taipei.

During the five years of Toledo’s presidency, the Peruvian economy grew by an average of 6 percent, one of the highest growth rates in Latin America, while inflation averaged only 1.5 percent.

Toledo is also well-known for his efforts to reduce poverty in Peru with the launch of the Juntos program aimed at helping poor families provide education and basic care for their children.

Ma said he hopes Toledo will share his country’s democratic experience with Taiwan during his visit, noting that Taiwan’s democratic development underwent great hardships to achieve the first popular presidential election in 1996, the first transition of power from one political party to another in 2000 and a second transition of power this year.