Cooperation is a strategic component within the Pacific Alliance. Parties are pursuing a Cooperation Platform in the areas of:

• Climate change and environment;
• Innovation, science and technology;
• Small and medium enterprises; and
• Social development.

The members established a fund in 2013 to develop the Cooperation Platform, with an initial contribution of USD $1 million. States are committed to make yearly contributions according to the activities plan, decided by the Technical Group on Cooperation.

However, to be fully implemented the agreement creating the fund needs to pass the internal legal procedures within each member. Since the conclusion of the agreement in 2013,  none of the members has fully completed the internal approvals.

Three questions arise in relation to the Cooperation Platform within the Pacific Alliance:

1. Is the Cooperation Platform strong enough to support the Cooperation Pillar of the Pacific Alliance in the long-run?

2. How is it articulated with the other bilateral initiatives in cooperation between the members? Not long ago Mexico and Chile concluded 9 agreements for further cooperation. They have had a Mexico-Chile Cooperation Fund operating for 9 years.

3. Are the funds allocated to it correlative to the broad and far reaching areas of cooperation? The resources seem limited to tackle all the areas.

Please feel free to share your views on this or other topics about the Pacific Alliance.

Photocredits: franky242/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Pacific Alliance has been invited to attend the Next APEC Meeting

The next APEC meeting to be held in November in the Philippines will have a special guest: the Pacific Alliance.

The opportunity to participate in this instance of regional dialogue requires from the Pacific Alliance a strategy to address the meeting. What are the aims of the Pacific Alliance’s participation? What outcomes should be expected from it?

Any ideas or contributions? Leave a comment below…

At the moment three of the Pacific Alliance members are at the same time APEC members. Colombia is not part of it due to restrictions for new memberships. The participation contributes especially to Colombia’s indirect insertion in that important regional dialogue mechanism.

Source: sela.org; Economíahoy.mx‎

photocredits: Photokanok/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

PABC-CEAP: A Distinctive Feature of the Pacific Alliance Configuration?

The Pacific Alliance Business Council is a private initiative, a body comprised by several of the most representative business people in each of the member states of the Pacific Alliance. The Council has advisory roles formulating recommendations and suggestions to the governments and business unions about the Pacific Alliance and ways to enhance cooperation among the members.

Since its official establishment the Business Council has promoted an ambitious agenda for the integration scheme to develop and many of its initiatives have been channeled with the creation of technical groups entrusted with the role of reviewing and implementing its proposals. They include topics from financial integration to taxation, education, entrepreneurship and innovation.

The Business Council could become a distinctive feature of the Pacific Alliance since the early support to the integration scheme is a key to develop integration from the bottom to the top.

Integration in Latin America has been a process mainly driven by the governments, but PABC could mean a change to this traditional path.

The Framework Agreement entered into force on the 20th July 2015!

The Agreement of the Pacific Alliance, signed by the state parties on the 6 June 2012, has finally entered into force after states finished the domestic process of incorporation.

This is an important step towards the consolidation of the integration scheme since the agreement defines the basic principles, objectives and institutional structure.

We expect the state members will soon finish the incorporation process that could make the Commercial Protocol legally binding and fully operational.

Interview with SBS in Spanish discussing the recent progress made by the Pacific Alliance, its institutional challenges and the lessons learned from previous integration processes in the region.

Listen online

Presidents of the Pacific Alliance Met Yesterday for the X Presidential Summit in Paracas, Peru.

The Presidents of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru met on the 2 July 2015 for the X Presidential Summit of the Pacific Alliance.
The second body in charge, Council of Ministers also met in its XIV session.

During the meeting Peru received the pro-temprore presidency of the group from its partner Mexico which it will hold for a year.

A Presidential Declaration setting the steps forward is expected to be issued.
The general Pacific Alliance Summit was held from the 1-3 July with observer states and international organizations such as the Inter-American Development Bank and the Development Bank of Latin America participating on it. During the general meeting representatives of the entrepreneurial and business sector gather in the Business Council of the Pacific Alliance (CEAP Spanish Acronym).

Eyes are put on the progress of the integration scheme and expectations raised with time!
sources:

alianzapacifico.net
www.sela.org

Deadlines on the 30th June

• Conference and Call for Papers on The Pacific Alliance in a World of Preferential Trade Agreements

By: World Trade Institute, Universidad Externado de Colombia and University of Bern

Link to full information: http://www.transnational-dispute-management.com/news/20151119.pdf

• The Future of Transatlantic Economic Governance in the Age of the BRICS

Photo courtesy of twobee at FreeDigitalPhotos.net