German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Peruvian President President Ollanta Humala on Monday to discuss bilateral relations. Following the meeting, the two heads of state agreed to strengthen cooperation particularly in the areas of education and the economy.

“We appreciate Germany’s efforts in assisting Peruvian progress towards development, in that sense today’s meeting has been a pivotal one,” the Peruvian president stated.

Humala also attended the Fifth Petersburg Climate Dialogue, currently being held in Berlin, Germany. His participation in the discussions mark the upcoming 20th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 20) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, scheduled to take place in Lima, Peru, in December 2014.

Both Merkel and Humala gave keynote speeches in which the former pledged to allocate US$1 billion for the U.N.'s Green Climate Fund.

In response to the pledge, during his keynote address, Humala stated “I want to express my satisfaction with Germany's pledge on the fight against climate change, I have heard the words of Chancellor and valuable specific commitments has assumed and that is a sign that Germany is committed to the planet.”

Despite the donation, a study published earlier this month by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) found that the international community must contribute US$800 billion in additional annual investments in low-carbon energy from now until mid-century in order to avoid reaching dangerous levels of global warming

The IIASA publication precedes the upcoming climate change negotiations which are scheduled to take place in Bonn, Germany, for a week in October and then in Lima, Peru, in December for a final two-week session.

teleSUR / ns-OAB