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Regional Integration in Latin America - The Pacific Alliance a Way Ahead
News

The Pacific Alliance Recent Moves in Uncertain Times

The Pacific Alliance reached its 7th anniversary this year with an active agenda but uncertain times lie ahead. With further presidential changes in Colombia in August and Mexico in December 2018, some concerns arise regarding how these presidential moves will affect the progress in the internal agenda of the PA. Securing presidential support is particularly relevant for the PA considering its intergovernmental model where presidents have had the major leading role since inception.

In the case of Colombia the election of Ivan Duque, the centre-right candidate, may represent less of a concern to the continuity of the PA. This is because the PA’s principles and ideas align with his views on investment promotion and economic development. The mechanism enjoys strong support from the business community in Colombia which has played a central role in its electoral campaign and its economic strategy. Duque’s potential support to the PA contrasts with his recent declarations that confirm his interest to withdraw from UNASUR.

In the case of Mexico, presidential changes represent a broader concern for the more unpredictable foreign policy line that Andres Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) might follow for the coming six years. AMLO was able to secure a sweeping victory on the 1st of July with a slogan that states: ‘the best foreign policy is domestic policy’. It is not entirely clear what he means with this narrative other than he will prioritise dealing with domestic affairs such as corruption and drug trafficking-related crimes.  AMLO’s rhetoric until late stages of the presidential campaign has relegated foreign affairs to the side although setting a clearer foreign policy pathway will be unavoidable. In any case, the PA might be off to a good start as the elected president will join the outgoing president Enrique Peña Nieto during the Presidential Summit on the 24th of July.

Continue reading

July 23, 2018by Ana Maria Palacio
English, Working Papers

The Authorised Economic Operator in the Pacific Alliance

Abstract:
The Pacific Alliance (PA) is a regional integration initiative comprised of Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. With 215 million inhabitants, the PA’s countries account for just over 40% of Latin American GDP, as well as 52% of total trade and 45% of FDI in the region.

They are also the four nations that occupy the top four places for Latin America in the 2016 World Bank’s Doing Business index. As a bloc, they aspire to become a platform for political articulation and projection to the world, with an emphasis on the Asia-Pacific region.

Indeed, an example of these shared objectives is the Authorised Economic Operator (AEO), an institution born after the establishment of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), as a part of a multi-layered cargo enforcement strategy.

Through this program, the CBP works with the trade community to strengthen international supply chains and improve border security. The AEO Program is, at the same time, part of a much larger and ambitious global initiative, supported by both the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Customs Organization(WCO). Each of these international institutions has encouraged new measures towards Trade Facilitation, where the SAFE Framework is a specific application of the principles set by the Bali Package.

The AEO Program is aimed at cooperation based on 3 pillars:

(1) Customs-to-Customs;
(2) Customs-to-Business and Authorised Economic Operator; and
(3) Cooperation between Customs and other Government and Inter-Government agencies.

This research portrays an up-to-date status of the AEO Programs in the PA, while shining a light on the different obstacles these programs have encountered and what probable outcomes will be in the coming years.

Our primary goal of this investigation is to answer two questions:
1. What is the current situation of the AEO programs within the Pacific Alliance?
2. What impact will the PA’s AEO programs have in the medium term? Can these programs become as successful as C-TPAT?

Author: Jorge Vega Cancino
Full document: 2017, Vega, The Authorized Economic Operator in the Pacific Alliance

August 13, 2016by Ana Maria Palacio
Reports, Spanish

Convergence between the Pacific Alliance and Mercosur: facing together a challenging international context

Abstract:
Not available

Resumen:
En una coyuntura tan turbulenta como la actual, profundizar la integración regional no es una opción sino un imperativo. Junto con África, América Latina y el Caribe presenta los menores índices de comercio intrarregional del mundo. Apenas el 16% del valor de sus exportaciones se dirige a la propia región, muy por debajo del 50% que registran Asia oriental y América del Norte, y del 64% de la Unión Europea. Asimismo, los encadenamientos productivos entre países de la región son, en general, escasos y débiles.

Un gran obstáculo al comercio y la integración productiva intrarregionales es la fragmentación del espacio económico regional. Hoy coexisten varios mecanismos de integración económica, cada uno de los cuales ha generado sus propias reglas en temas que van desde las normas sanitarias y de protección al consumidor hasta las compras públicas y el tratamiento de la inversión extranjera. Estas discrepancias regulatorias imponen altos costos a las empresas (especialmente a las pequeñas y medianas empresas (pymes)) que desean exportar al mercado regional o invertir en él, y dificultan el desarrollo de cadenas regionales de valor. De este modo, el gran potencial que ofrece el mercado regional, con sus más de 640 millones de habitantes, sigue sin aprovecharse plenamente.
[…]

En este contexto, resulta crucial tender puentes entre los principales mecanismos de integración económica de la región. Por ello, la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) ha apoyado con entusiasmo la propuesta de “convergencia en la diversidad” entre la Alianza del Pacífico y el MERCOSUR, formulada por el Gobierno de Chile en 2014.

Institutional Author: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
Spanish Title: La convergencia entre la Alianza del Pacífico y el MERCOSUR: enfrentando juntos un escenario mundial desafiante
Full document: 2018, ECLAC, La convergencia entre la Alianza del Pacífico y el MERCOSUR

March 20, 2016by Ana Maria Palacio

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Hello my name is Ana Maria Palacio. I have a PhD from the University of Melbourne. This blog is about my thesis project, the Pacific Alliance.

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