Georgia is among the U.S. states Peru is targeting for increased trade as the South American nation continues its quest to open export markets around the world, Martin Perez, Peru's trade minister, said in Atlanta Monday.

Peru's exports are expected to grow by 15-17 percent this year, recovering the volumes lost during the 2009 recession as the country accelerates efforts to attract global investment and lower trade barriers, Mr. Perez said at a breakfast event held at the Marriott Marquis downtown.

Peru's economy has gradually trended toward openness since reforms began in the early 1990s. The policies have proven beneficial: As many countries retrench, Peru is projected to end 2010 with a growth rate near 7 percent. Since 2004, the proportion of Peruvians living below the poverty line has been slashed to 34 percent from 54 percent, Mr. Perez said.

The path toward economic liberalization has led to a recent string of free trade agreements with large markets. A pact with the U.S. went into effect last February, and Peru recently concluded negotiations on a similar agreement with the European Union. Mr. Perez traveled to the U.S. from Asia, where Peru hopes to iron out bilateral deals with Japan and South Korea later this year.

"We are very aggressive on free trade agreements, and we think that's the way to go," Mr. Perez said.

After the first year in force, the U.S. deal's effects were difficult to quantify, especially in light of the 2009 recession, Mr. Perez said. Textile exports slumped, for example, but sales of signature agricultural products like asparagus and avocados in the U.S. climbed.

More easily tracked are the FTA's peripheral benefits. Companies from neighboring Ecuador and Bolivia are investing in Peru as a duty-free portal to the U.S. Peru, a member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, is launching an effort aimed at getting Chinese companies to do the same.

"You have to measure this in the long run. There's no doubt that this free trade agreement is good for both countries," Mr. Perez told GlobalAtlanta in an interview before speaking at a Peruvian-American Business Council event.

Still, Peru has barely scratched the surface in some U.S. states like California, which by itself has a bigger economy than all but seven countries. Peruvian companies only export $800 million worth of goods to California, the same amount they sell to the Dominican Republic, a Caribbean nation with a GDP ($45 billion) about 40 times smaller than California's.

Increasing exports to the U.S. will depend on a switch from "traditional" products like metals and minerals, to "non-traditional," value-added products, Mr. Perez said. About 75 percent of Peru's exports are currently derived from fishing, agriculture and mining.

"Peru is a mining country. We've been in the mining industry since the Incas," he said.

Atlanta is an important logistics hub through which Peruvian companies can access the Southeast U.S., but there are also opportunities in the opposite direction, Mr. Perez said.

A primary need is infrastructure investment, the trade minister added. Even after its government committed $25 billion to building roads and revamping ports and airports, the country needs at least $35 billion in additional infrastructure spending, Mr. Perez said.

There's also room to grow Georgia's exports to Peru, said Jose Ignacio Gonzalez, executive chairman of CIFAL Atlanta, which co-hosted the event. Peru still ranks 43rd among the state's export markets even though Georgia's annual exports there more than doubled to $111 million from 2005-09, he said.

"This is a sizable increase of trade but it still leaves a lot of room for improvement," said Mr. Gonzalez, who is also president of Hemisphere Trade Services, a non-profit entity set up in 2002 to promote Atlanta as the potential secretariat of the Free Trade Area of the Americas, a now-stalled trade bloc that would've included all but a few Western Hemisphere countries.

The event was part of an investment road show launched by the New York-based Peruvian-American Business Council. Other stops on the road show include Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Washington and Toronto.

For more information, visit www.peru-us.org.

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