Eight countries advance in their entry into the Pacific Alliance

Eight countries are in various stages of progress to join the Pacific Alliance, an economic bloc made up of Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Peru.

On January 26, 2022, within the framework of the XVI Summit of the Pacific Alliance, the FTA (FTA) between Singapore and the Pacific Alliance, which once ratified by the parties and enters into force will make this country the first Associated State of the Alliance.

In addition to Singapore, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Ecuador, Honduras and Costa Rica also manage their entry.

When heading the meeting of the Council of Ministers of the XVII Summit of the Pacific Alliance in Mexico City this Thursday, Marcelo Ebrard, Foreign Minister of Mexico, stressed that the interest of these countries shows that the Pacific Alliance works.

“The alliances that do not work have requests to leave or simply do not move, this alliance is a successful alliance and we have, as I have already indicated, several countries presenting their interest to join the Pacific Alliance,” said the foreign minister.

The Pacific Alliance is a mechanism for economic and trade integration, based on four pillars: free mobility of goods, services, capital and people and a transversal axis of cooperation.

Present at the meeting were the Undersecretary of International Economic Relations of Chile, José Miguel Ahumada; the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism of Colombia, Germán Umaña Mendoza; Laura Gil Savastano, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Peru, César Landa Arroyo.

Umaña Mendoza trusted that Mexico and Ecuador quickly conclude bilateral FTA negotiations, a requirement for the Ecuadorian nation to join the Pacific Alliance.

Las negotiations of this FTA they remain stuck due to lack of agreement on the opening of tuna, shrimp, financial services and bananas, although specific advances have emerged and their closure could be imminent.

Pacific Alliance officials also held a meeting on Thursday with representatives of Canada, South Korea, Costa Rica, Honduras and Singapore.

In particular, the new interest of Costa Rica and Honduras in joining the bloc stands out, after trying to do so at the beginning of the founding of the Pacific Alliance.

The Pacific Alliance was established in April 2011, through the Framework Agreement, which entered into force in July 2015, and its commercial protocol, which entered into force on May 1, 2016.

In 2020, two amending protocols of the Additional Protocol to the Framework Agreement of the Pacific Alliance entered into force. Provisions relating to electronic commerce and the provision of telecommunications services were modified; a new chapter on regulatory improvement was also included and an annex on cosmetics was added to the chapter on technical barriers to trade.

When participating in the IX Business Summit of the Pacific Alliance (a side event in Mexico City), Raquel Buenrostro, Secretary of Economy of Mexico, highlighted that its four founding countries jointly received 59.653 million dollars in Foreign direct investment (FDI), and which on average are located in position 37 of 63 economies evaluated in competitiveness by the World Economic Forum.

The four countries of the Pacific Alliance represent the ninth largest economy in the world, the sixth largest exporter and 42% of GDP in Latin America and the Caribbean.

They also generate about 59% of total trade in Latin America and the Caribbean; they attract 53% of the flows of Foreign Direct Investment from Latin America and the Caribbean; They have a population of 231 million people and a GDP per capita of $7,800.