The Pacific Alliance closes the year with a busy last week. A couple of significant events took place and deserve some consideration. First the meeting of the technical groups in Bogota from the 11 to the 13 December. Second the presidential election in Chile.

The meeting in Bogota gathered more than a dozen technical groups and subcommittees on issues regarding tourism, gender, institutional matters, digital agenda, education,  regulatory cooperation, innovation, external relations and SMEs. Around 160 government officials from the four countries attended the meeting to discuss progress in the different areas and the action plans for 2018.

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Abstract:
Latin American regional blocs face the challenge of finding a new system for international insertion. Mercosur and the rest of the regional blocs do not meet the real needs of global trade and economy. If governments fail to find effective solutions to the structural challenges posed by the new global context, Latin American integration will become isolated under any international context (Mercosur, UNASUR).

Political, economic and financial mechanisms need to be modernised because integration is crucial. Still, such integration needs to address more than just the economic aspect: it is also necessary to improve the living standards in each country, to strengthen democracy and to support self-determination in the region. Special consideration must be given to the Asuncion Treaty, which lists as its primary object “to strengthen development ensuring social justice.”

If governments continue prioritising only the economic aspect, the integration will suffer under the fluctuations of more developed economies. Since 2015, the Mercosur-Pacific Alliance duality has been one of the priorities to drive integration, as it provides an opportunity to boost development and expansion in regional economies. Entering into agreements with the European Union would also be beneficial, but these are more difficult to achieve. While this paper does not deal with this particular topic, it is one of the significant challenges and questions to be addressed by Mercosur as a whole.

Resumen:
Los bloques regionales latinoamericanos deben enfrentar los retos de buscar un nuevo sistema de inserción internacional. Es claro que el Mercosur y el resto de los bloques regionales no están a la altura de las necesidades reales de la economía y el comercio global. Si los gobiernos no dan respuestas ciertas a los desafíos estructurales que impone el nuevo contexto global, la integración latinoamericana sufrirá un aislamiento bajo cualquier contexto internacional (Mercosur, UNASUR).

Es necesario modernizar los mecanismos políticos, económicos y financieros, ya que la integración es una herramienta fundamental, pero no solo es económica, sino también es necesario elevar el nivel de vida de los países, fortalecer la democracia y también consolidar la autodeterminación de los países de la región. No hay que olvidar el Tratado de Asunción, el cual establece como objetivo primordial “fortalecer el desarrollo, con justicia social”; mientras los gobiernos prioricen solamente los aspectos económicos, la integración sufrirá los vaivenes de las economías con mayor desarrollo. Desde el 2015, la dualidad Mercosur-la Alianza del Pacífico es una de las prioridades para impulsar la integración y para generar un mayor desarrollo y expansión de las economías de la región.

Otro aspecto para no descartar, pero muy difícil de lograr, son los acuerdos con la Unión Europea. Si bien en el presente trabajo no está planteando este tema, se considera uno de los grandes interrogantes y desafíos que deberá lograr el Mercosur, en su conjunto.

Author: María de Monserrat Llairó
Spanish Title: Los nuevos desafíos y ejes de poder de la integración latinoamericana: la dualidad Mercosur – Alianza del Pacífico (2010–2017)
Full Document:2019, Llairó, New Challenges and Power Axes of Latin American Integration- Mercosur – Pacific Alliance Duality

Abstract:
The more recent waves of regionalism in Latin America have been associated, respectively, with structuralist, neoliberal and post-liberal economic and political experiments in the region.

Structuralist regionalism was launched in the 1950s and somehow survived until the 1970s; open regionalism followed in the 1980s and 1990s and was replaced, to a certain extent, during the next decade by post-liberal regionalism.

However, the limits, if not demise, of post-liberal experiments in the most important economies of Latin America pose the question of the future of regionalism. In this changing situation, this paper explores several questions about the future of regionalism in Latin America. Will regionalism hold sway over Latin America? Will present integration schemes continue in the region? Will new entities arise? Will there be a convergence in diversity between integration projects in Latin America? Will the new context of global uncertainties lead to a revival of regionalism?

Author: Alberto van Klaveren
Full document: 2017, Klaveren, Regionalism in Latin America -Navigating in the Fog

Abstract:
This paper develops an analysis of how macroeconomic convergence among Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Chile has translated into a non-intentional institutional and similar constitutional order, in areas as important as fiscal and monetary stability. The current reality opens many possibilities for deep financial integration and regulatory cooperation. These aspects are not sufficiently reflected in the Treaty and the Additional Protocol.

In fact, these instruments have followed the standard practice of previous Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) under the NAFTA model on financial services treatment that does not fit adequately with the objective of creating a free trade zone based on the free movement of capital and financial services.

An example of this reality is the timid development of mutual recognition of financial service authorisations in FTAs in contrast to the technical agenda of future developments in the Pacific Alliance. In this context, this paper offers some specific proposals for the peculiar institutional construction of the Pacific Alliance and regulatory cooperation. The proposals are based on the soft law experience of partners and the levels of convergence already obtained. The paper also reviews eventual consistency problems between financial integration and other international commitments of partners.

Resumen:
No disponible

Author: Manuel Monteagudo
Full document: 2017, Monteagudo, The Pacific Alliance in Search for a Financial Integration- So Close and Yet so Far

Abstract:
This paper analyses the current scenario of regional economic integration in Latin America. Thus, it is argued that economic integration in this region is currently developing in three axes: an open integration axis (represented by the Pacific Alliance); a revisionist axis (symbolized by the Southern Common Market –Mercosur-) and an anti-systemic axis (represented by the Bolivarian Alliance for the People of our America –ALBA-). In each of these initiatives, diverse models of regional economic integration have been adopted. The relation between the current regionalist axes and the diverse models of economic integration in Latin America is discussed in the paper. Similarly, the paper evaluates the extent to which extra-regional initiatives, such as the European Union, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have also influenced on the models of economic integration in Latin America.

Author: José Briceño-Ruiz
Full document: 2014, Briceño, Regional Dynamics and External Influences in the Discussions about the Model of Economic Integration in Latin America

Abstract:
Mexico, Chile, Peru and Colombia formed the Pacific Alliance as a trade block, which is expected to increase the flow of goods and services within their economies with the rest of the world, especially with Asia Pacific; likewise, geopolitically this new alliance hopes to become the most important partner in Latin America, in contrast to Mercosur or Brazil.
This article aims to present the genesis and objectives of the Pacific Alliance, among which are: raising income, boosting economies to overcome poverty, attracting foreign investment in higher volumes, improving regional technological development, and extending the internal market to overcome low levels of productivity, and achieve integration and market penetration of the most prosperous countries in Asia: China, India and Singapore.

Resumen:
México, Chile, Perú y Colombia constituyeron la Alianza Pacífico como un bloque comercial con el cual se espera acrecentar los flujos de bienes y servicios al interior de sus economías con el resto del mundo y en especial con Asia Pacífico, de igual manera, a nivel geopolítico la nueva alianza espera convertirse en el interlocutor más importante de América Latina, en contraposición al Mercosur o a Brasil. Este artículo pretende presentar el génesis y objetivos de la Alianza Pacífico entre los cuales se destacan: elevar el ingreso, dinamizar las economías para superar la pobreza, atraer inversión extranjera en mayores volúmenes, mejorar el desarrollo tecnológico regional y ampliar el mercado interior para superar los bajos índices de productividad, además de lograr integración y penetración al mercado de los países más prósperos del Asia: China, India y Singapur.

Author: Guillermo Alexander Arévalo Luna
Spanish Title: La Alianza Pacífico: Geopolítica e Integración Económica
Full document: 2014, La Alianza Pacífico- Geopolítica e Integración Económica

Abstract:
Not available

Resumen:
La Alianza del Pacífico (ap) como proyecto de integración y cooperación económica y comercial latinoamericana –inspirado en la simplicidad de las ideaseconómicas neoliberales del corpus ideológico del Consenso de Washington– surge en un contexto de múltiples intentos fallidos de integración regional. A esto debe añadirse la degradación del potencial económico de los países integrantes de la AP, directamente relacionada con la forma en que los gobiernos han aplicado su estrategia de crecimiento económico en la región desde mediados de los ochenta; especialización en la producción y exportación de manufacturas. En este contexto cabe preguntarse ¿cuáles serán, entonces, las fortalezas de la integración regional AP la ap frente a las potencias asiáticas?

En el contexto latinoamericano, la AP y el mercosur ilustran las nuevas líneas de división de América Latina; las diferentes visiones y tendencias de la economía y el comercio perfilan una división “vertical” de la región. Con este criterio se perfilan dos Américas Latinas: la del Atlántico, que desconfía de la globalización, instrumenta una integración restrictiva y otorga un mayor papel al Estado en la economía, y la del Pacífico que opta por el libre mercado y comercio.

Desde una visión de política exterior, la AP podría ser interpretada como un intento de restructuración de la política latinoamericana de México, sin embargo no parece demasiado factible que esta iniciativa pueda erigirse en una estrategia suficiente para que el país recupere los espacios perdidos en la región; menos aún, para construir un liderazgo regional.

Authors: José Luis León Manríquez, Juan José Ramírez Bonilla
Spanish Title: La Alianza del Pacífico. Alcances, competitividad e implicaciones para América Latina
Full document: 2014, Manríquez & Ramírez, La Alianza del Pacífico. Alcances, competitividad e implicaciones para América Latina

Abstract:
This paper seeks to answer why the Pacific Alliance (PA) has emerged as the latest integration initiative in the already wide spectrum of multilateral groups in Latin America. It does so by evaluating the political and economic considerations that motivated the PA’s formation, aiming to present informed arguments within the framework of trade and political developments in the region. This paper is based on both secondary and primary data (interviews), and it is divided into four parts plus conclusions. The paper starts by presenting a general characterization of the Alliance; afterwards, presents a historic and comparative overview of the integration processes in the region; assesses the current level of integration between the PA members; and, finally, offers insights into future developments in the following areas: transnational production chains, access to foreign markets and extra-regional (economic and political) outreach. The results of this study show how the public and private sector’s experience in international trade and international business has motivated the members of the Pacific Alliance to join forces to consolidate a platform for economic integration allowing them to increase market access, foster economic growth, and improve human development indicators in the region. From the political point of view, the paper concludes that the PA emerged as a liberal counterpart to the left-leaning integration initiatives that had been prevalent in the region during the preceding decade.
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