RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Pacific Alliance, which was born 10 years ago as an innovative regional integration mechanism, has transcended the economic and commercial sphere to encompass the social sphere in a community made up of 230 million people.
The initiative, created on April 28th, 2011 through the Lima Declaration signed by the presidents of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, and materialized at the June 6th, 2012 summit in Cerro Paranal (Chile), where the Framework Agreement was signed, represented a change in the dynamics of Latin American regional blocs.
“In the social sphere, the Alliance has made progress in the free movement of people. The first step we took was the elimination of visas for tourism and business,” Colombian Foreign Minister Claudia Blum, whose country holds the pro tempore presidency of the bloc, told Efe in a written interview.
The waiver of visas came into effect in November 2012, just 18 months after the signing of the Lima Declaration, and was the first of other initiatives aimed at bringing integration to the people.
The chancellor also cited “the scholarship program of the Student and Academic Mobility Platform, and the youth volunteering strategy, with more than 3,000 beneficiaries.”
GENDER AND ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVE
“Additionally, we are implementing a roadmap for mainstreaming the gender perspective in all Alliance actions,” said the minister, who also highlighted the environmental aspect of this mechanism by “promoting circular economy models” in the four countries.
Blum pointed out that during the pro tempore presidency that Colombia inherited from Chile last December, work has been done to implement the Social Observatory and in agreements to create an Alliance visa for third countries.
“Likewise, we are committed to the implementation of the roadmap for the empowerment and autonomy of women, adopted by the presidents of the member states last December,” and also “with the roadmap for the sustainable management of plastics, which is framed in circular economy models,” he adds.
These advances, which complement the tariff relief of 92% on goods and services circulating between the four countries, approved in 2014; the harmonization of regulation in different sectors; the union of stock exchanges in the Latin American Integrated Market (MILA), or the promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship, make the Alliance an attractive platform for other regions.
A GLOBAL ALLIANCE
International interest is reflected in the high number of states with observer status, 59 in total, from five continents, including all the members of the G-7 (United States, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom and Japan).
Of these, six are Partner State candidates (Australia, Canada, South Korea, Ecuador, New Zealand and Singapore).
“In order to move towards a more global Alliance, we hope to finalize negotiations with the Associated State candidates as soon as possible, starting with Singapore, and to begin the process with Ecuador and Korea,” added the Minister.
The case of Ecuador is a pending matter for the Pacific Alliance, which at its XIV Presidential Summit, held in Lima in July 2019, welcomed that country to begin the process of incorporation as a full member, given its status as a Pacific country and its close ties with the other members of the bloc.
However, in order to take this step, one of the requirements to be met by the candidate country is to have trade agreements with each of the member states, and in the case of Ecuador, Mexico is still in process, the only one it lacks.
“For the Alliance, and specifically for Colombia, the entry of Ecuador is of utmost importance to have a mechanism that continues to bring together the Latin American economies of the Pacific basin,” said Blum.