Lima, October 29
India and Peru have signed four agreements in the presence of Vice-President Hamid Ansari here to promote bilateral cooperation in the fields of education, culture and defence and to set up a joint commission to diversify relations.

The pact on education was signed by Jitin Prasada, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, and Eda Riva Franchini, Foreign Minister of Peru.

The pact encourages an exchange of research material, teaching aides, organisation of joint conferences, training programmes, setting up chairs on contemporary studies and providing scholarships for higher education.

The second agreement on defence cooperation was formalised by Manpreet Vohra, Ambassador of India to Peru, and Eda Riva Franchini, Foreign Minister of Peru. It aims at enhancing cooperation in the prevention of spread of weapons of mass destruction and tackling non-conventional threats like drugs and piracy; exchange of training expertise and personnel for military courses and collaboration in the spheres of defence equipment exports for mutual benefit.

Through another MoU, India and Peru agreed to establish a joint commission, which will be an inter-governmental consultation mechanism at the Foreign Ministerial level, to promote, strengthen and diversify bilateral relations.

An agreement signed by Ravindra Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Culture, and Castillo, Vice-Minister of Cultural Heritage and Cultural Industries, aims to create specific cooperation programmes for the exchange of experiences and training of specialists in the museum sector, organising temporary international exhibitions for the dissemination of information on cultural heritage of both countries.