Adriana Roldán Pérez, Associate Professor of Asia Pacific Studies from the Asia Pacific Studies Center of University EAFIT in Colombia, has shared with the Pacific Alliance Blog her thoughts and recommendations for the forthcoming participation of the Pacific Alliance in the APEC Meeting and the role that Colombia should play. These are some of her insights:

On the entry of Colombia as a possible APEC member

“In first place it was very interesting to see that in this year’s survey on the State of the Region prepared annually by the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC), opinion leaders were asked about the possibility of opening the membership to new countries.  Several of these options made reference to Colombia and some members of the Pacific Alliance. This indicates that there is a good atmosphere and that PECC could be the channel to recommend the eventual entry of Colombia to APEC. However, the gateway for Colombia should be through the Pacific Alliance. The schedule of upcoming summits of APEC in developing countries could facilitate putting the issue of new members entrance to the forum on the table.