Abstract:
International trade interacts with gender equality in different ways. Its impact is not neutral. The various implications of international trade upon them are conditioned by the distinct roles of women and men in economic activity.
Recognising the socio-economic gaps between both sexes, the most recent trade policies include gender provisions as a means to promote the economic empowerment of women.

In some cases, gender-specific provisions are included in agreements to promote equality, and there are also initiatives to mainstream a gender perspective into general trade rules, and into support instruments for the export sector. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) has been a pioneer in including gender issues into its agenda. A stand-alone chapter on gender and trade in a bilateral trade agreement was incorporated for the first time in the 2016 free-trade agreement between Chile and Uruguay. Another milestone was the Joint Declaration on Gender and Trade, endorsed by 118 countries in the context of the 11th Ministerial Conference of the WTO in December 2017.

At the firm level, trade policy in Latin America and the Caribbean has been developing gender initiatives to further women’s export entrepreneurship.
Future actions on gender and trade can be implemented in three different areas: generation of disaggregated data by sex; development of gender-specific trade policies at the national, bilateral and multilateral levels; and promotion of women’s export entrepreneurship, where trade promotion agencies (TPOs) play a key role.

Resumen:
No disponible

Author: Alicia Frohmann
Full document: 2017, Frohmann, Gender Equality and Trade Policy

Abstract:
Not available

Resumen:
[…] En la producción de bienes y servicios, la digitalización se concreta en la IoT, la robotización de las actividades productivas y la incorporación de nuevas tecnologías, en particular las de análisis de grandes datos y de inteligencia artificial; así como por un fuerte grado de sustitución de los bienes y servicios tradicionales por sus equivalentes digitales. Las nuevas tecnologías han cambiado también la forma cómo se realiza el comercio, reduciendo el costo del suministro de servicios a través de las fronteras y conectando a empresas a lo largo de las cadenas de valor. En particular, ayudan a superar muchas de limitaciones asociadas a operar en mercados internacionales y llevan a la adopción de nuevos modelos de negocio, la entrada de competidores y un cambio en las fuentes de las ventajas competitivas. La digitalización cambia no sólo la forma en que se lleva a cabo el comercio, sino también quién y qué se negocia; así, un creciente número de transacciones de bajo valor y pequeños envíos cruzan las fronteras. Continue reading

Abstract:
Not available

Resumen:
Este artículo se propone analizar – a través de los conceptos de regionalización, regionalismo e integración – las nuevas tendencias en la configuración de los espacios de cooperación económica en la región del Asia-Pacífico. La hipótesis que guía este artículo es que, desde el año 2004, en la región de Asia-Pacífico se ha impulsado una nueva configuración de relaciones económicas basada en la firma de tratados de libre comercio, creando subregiones estratégicas que se mueven en dos dinámicas: por un lado, una dinámica de cooperación que busca avanzar en función de la meta del APEC 2020, que consiste en formar un área de libre comercio regional en la Cuenca del Pacífico, y, por otro lado, dinámicas de rivalidad que permean estas subregiones en función de los intereses de las principales potencias de la región, como Estados Unidos y China.
A su vez, en esta nueva configuración, los países participantes de América Latina, como Colombia,México, Perú y Chile, también entran en estas dinámicas. Su objetivo es buscar alianzas para ampliar mercados y relacionarse con estas principales economías a nivel global, y lo hacen construyendo la Alianza del Pacífico, una subregión de integración profunda que esmás que un tratado de libre comercio.

Author: Isabel Rodríguez Aranda
Spanish Title: Nuevas Configuraciones Económicas en el Asia-Pacífico y sus Consecuencias para América Latina: Desde el APEC a la Alianza del Pacífico
Full document: 2014, Rodríguez, Nuevas Configuraciones Económicas en el Asia-Pacífico y sus Consecuencias para América Latina- Desde Apec a la Alianza del Pacífico

Abstract:
Regional integration has shown a transformation in the dynamics of international trade resulting in the creation of Mega Trade Agreements (MAC). These agreements raise new standards of commercialisation through productive chains.

This context implies a possible scenario where the rules imposed by the World Trade Organization (WTO) would become obsolete with respect to the regulations proposed by the MACs, causing adverse effects to within the economies that do not participate in them. These dynamics have been developed mainly in the Asia Pacific region, taking into account that this region has positioned itself within the international system as a new economic focus; it is relevant to developing countries due to its commercial dynamism and economic growth, making it necessary to establish relations with this market.

Colombian is lagging behind in politics and foreign trade with this region, causing competitive disadvantages to the country when compared to its peers in the Pacific Alliance. For this reason, this project aims to analyse the commercial insertion strategies of Chile and Colombia in the markets of the Asia Pacific region, specifically in the multilateral scenarios of APEC and Pacific Alliance, during the period 2010-2016. The study takes into account that Chile has had a successful insertion in this region. This project describes Chiles’ insertion processes to establish the elements of the Chilean strategy that can favour Colombia’s commercial insertion strategy into the Asia Pacific markets to propose recommendations to this field of Colombia’s foreign policy.

Resumen:
La integración regional ha evidenciado una transformación en las dinámicas de comercio internacional, dando como resultado la creación de Mega Acuerdos Comerciales (MAC) que plantean nuevos estándares de comercialización y producción a partir del surgimiento de encadenamientos productivos.

Continue reading

Abstract:
The establishment of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) is one of the priorities of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) to enhance regional economic integration beyond the Bogor Goals, as reflected in the Beijing Roadmap for APEC in 2014. Multiple pathways could converge into the FTAAP, and these include the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). This paper discusses the potential of the Pacific Alliance (PA) to provide an additional pathway that also contributes to the FTAAP process and regional integration in Asia-Pacific.

The analysis suggests that the PA can be considered a comprehensive mechanism that is in line with the Bogor Goals, and its achievements in areas such as market access, services, investment, and new generation issues suggest that it is a WTO+ agreement. However, some issues would need to be negotiated among its members—such as intellectual property, labour, and environmental protection—for the PA to profile itself as a pathway equivalent to the TPP. The PA, however, is more comprehensive than the RCEP. The analysis also suggests that despite having only four members, the PA is a “living agreement” and is open to other APEC economies for membership and, therefore, has the potential to become a region-wide agreement.

Resumen:
No disponible

Authors: Camilo Pérez-Restrepo and Adriana Roldan-Pérez
Full document: 2016, Restrepo & Roldan, Is the Pacific Alliance a Potential Pathway to the FTAAP?

Abstract:
A new map of regional integration that builds upon and questions the traditional paradigms of international insertion is being formed. This situation takes place in the context of the recent processes of regionalisation in Latin America that respond to the increasing multipolarity and interdependence in the contemporary global scenario.

The Pacific Alliance (PA) stands out as an innovative regional project of open regionalism, with specific features that provide it with an identity still under construction. The purpose of this article is to identify the continuities and ruptures evidenced by the  PA in terms of open regionalism as its underlying theoretic-conceptual framework. The article concludes that the PA has been configured as a distinct process compared to previous experiences with open regionalism in Latin America, with specific features that do not allow reducing the understanding of this regional actor to a typical case of open regionalism.

Resumen:
En el marco de los recientes procesos de regionalización que vive América Latina como respuesta a la creciente multipolaridad e interdependencia que identifican el escenario global contemporáneo se configura un nuevo mapa de la integración regional que retoma y cuestiona los paradigmas tradicionales de inserción internacional.

La Alianza del Pacífico (AP) se destaca como proyecto regional novedoso heredero del regionalismo abierto, con rasgos específicos que le imprimen una identidad propia aún en construcción. El objetivo del artículo es identificar las continuidades y las rupturas que evidencia la AP frente al regionalismo abierto como su marco teórico-conceptual inspirador. Se concluye que la ap se configura en sus pocos años de existencia como un proceso distinto de experiencias previas de regionalismo abierto en América Latina, con rasgos específicos que no permiten reducir la comprensión de este actor regional a un estudio de caso típico del enfoque del regionalismo abierto.

Author: Carlos Alberto Cháves García
Spanish Title: Aproximación Teórica y Conceptual para el Análisis de la Alianza del Pacífico
Full document: 2017, Chaves, Aproximación Teórica y Conceptual para el Análisis de la Alianza del Pacífico

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