Eight countries advance in their process of joining 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 Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was signed between Singapore and the Pacific Alliance, which once it is 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 and South Korea also manage their entry, as associated states, and Ecuador, Honduras and Costa Rica, as full members.

While the figure of associated state implies the opening with “high quality standards in terms of commercial disciplines”, the status of full member goes far beyond the sphere of international trade.

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 Alliance works. Alliances that do not work, do not have applications for membership, and today almost the entire session was to listen to the countries that want to be part of our alliance (…) Costa Rica, Ecuador, Canada, Korea, Singapore and Honduras, that was the matter today. There is an accelerated expansion of the Pacific Alliance, it is a success”, said the foreign minister.

The Pacific Alliance is an integration mechanism 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 as a full member.

The negotiations of this FTA remain stuck due to lack of agreement on the opening of tuna, shrimp, financial services and bananas; although specific advances have emerged and it seems that its closure is imminent.

In particular, the announcement of the start of the negotiations in Costa Rica and the approval to begin the process of entry of Honduras stand out.

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.

When participating in the IX Business Summit of the Pacific Alliance (a side event in Mexico City), Raquel Buenrostro, Secretary of the Economy of Mexico, highlighted that its four founding countries jointly received 59.653 million dollars of Foreign Direct Investment ( FDI).

On November 22, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced the cancellation of the XVII Summit of the Pacific Alliance, after the Peruvian Congress did not authorize the President of Peru, Pedro Castillo, to visit Mexico to attend the event.

The pro tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance must be handed over by López Obrador to Castillo. Therefore, a date is being sought to hold the Summit in Peru.

empresas@eleconomista.mx