Peru's Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) has signed a 15-year investment contract with local power provider Ergon Peru SAC for the installation of 150,000 solar panels to provide electricity to remote areas of the country. 

A man protesting Southern Copper Corp's $1.4 billion Tia Maria project in Peru was killed in clashes with police on Tuesday, the second death in two weeks as government talks with opponents remain thwarted.

Interior Minister Jose Luis Perez said authorities were investigating how the protester was killed and two others wounded in Peru's southern region of Arequipa.

Tia Maria has the potential to add 120,000 tonnes of copper to Nasdaq-listed Southern Copper's annual supply, but the project has been stalled since three people died in similar rallies in 2011. Opponents say they fear the project will pollute surrounding agricultural valleys.

Peru's government said it is stepping up security measures to protect a remote native community in the Amazon rainforest after one of their members was killed by Mashco Piro nomads that live in voluntary isolation near the area.

More:

• Peru sends investigators into the Amazon jungle to find 'uncontacted' indigenous tribe after farmer is fatally shot in the chest with arrow
• [VIDEO] Managing Isolated Amazonian Tribes Poses A Unique Problem   

Lima, Peru is the world's second-largest desert city after Cairo, Egypt, and its water supply struggles to meet the demands of its 9 million residents year-round. In the wet season, the rivers that flow down from the Andes break their banks, while in the dry season, they slow to a trickle. Recently, massive landslides killed nine people, left hundreds homeless, and caused severe damage to major infrastructure just a few kilometers upstream of Lima. Climate change is likely to exaggerate these peaks and troughs. 

Exports of Peruvian asparagus for the first quarter of 2015 reached US$74.9m, a 6.4 per cent increase on the same period last year, reports Andina.

Giannina Denegri of exporter association Adex said the biggest market was the US, which took 41.3 per cent of the export total. Asparagus is the third top product among non-traditional agricultural exports in Peru after grapes and mangoes, accounting for 10 per cent of total exports. Grapes are Peru's top non-traditional export (28.7 per cent) followed by mangoes (15.1 per cent).

The decision comes after last month's visit to the US by Peruvian agriculture minister Juan Manuel Benites Ramos, who was seeking wider access for a number of the country's fruits and vegetables.

In Peru, livestock sector grew by 4.5% in 2015's first quarter, if compared to the same period last year.

Uruguay, Peru and Chile have the highest concentration of business ventures launched after identifying new opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean, the 2014 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, or GEM, report said.

"Start-ups in those countries come from entrepreneurs who identify a new market opportunity and they do it willingly, and not just because they cannot find another job," Isabelle Chaquiriand, said. 

Ambassador Eduardo Martinetti was sworn in as new Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister of the Republic of Peru, succeeding Claudio de La Puente Ribeyro in that post.

Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter will lead a group of Idaho-based business leaders on a weeklong trade mission to Peru and Mexico next week. The trip features businesses ranging from producers of milk and potatoes to makers of boat docks and skin care products, aiming to increase exports to Central and South America. 

Six people were injured, including four foreign tourists, when a small airplane crashed shortly after taking off for an aerial tour of the famed Nazca Lines in southern Peru.

The tourists were on board with a pilot and copilot in a 1982 Cessna 206 plane, owned by Aero Palcazu, which organizes flights over the ancient geoglyphs.