Last week a friend from a government agency asked me in a mesmerising way: Are there already publications on the Pacific Alliance? Well, there are in fact three dedicated edited books on the Pacific Alliance!

I would like to review these recent publications on the Pacific Alliance for the general public to get a sense of what they can get from them.

1. Alianza del Pacífico: en el Proceso de Integración Latinoamericano (the Pacific Alliance in the Latin American Integration Process) by CIEPLAN and the Interamerican Development Bank. This 2014 edited exploratory publication provides general insights on several aspects of the Pacific Alliance such as the relational issues with Mercosur and Brazil. An interesting approach is proposed by Alexandro Foxley in his short contribution on productive integration. As mentioned the book is only exploratory and does not provide details on the particular challenges of the PA to move forward. The book is available for free at: www.kas.de
2. La Alianza del Pacífico Mitos y Realidades (The Pacific Alliance: myths and realities). This is a 2015 edited publication that offers more in-depth analysis on particular topics and issues of the Pacific Alliance. It examines the Pacific Alliance in the regional and the global context with contributions by several authors. The publication briefly addresses some of the general challenges that arrive from the current institutional structure posing the question on how it does not conform with the institutional requirements to establish a common market. Moreover, the book includes a section on the challenges and cooperation avenues on security issues related to drug trafficking, money laundry, and organised crime for the PA members.  The book is available for free at: www.kas.de
3. Perspectivas y Oportunidades de la Alianza del Pacífico. (Opportunities and Prospects of the Pacific Alliance). This is a 2015 edited contribution by Universidad CESA and Universidad del Desarrollo. The book delves into more detail on the achievements that the PA has made up to this point and also touches on particular aspects of the PA, including contributions on particular countries such as Chile and Peru. The chapter by Edgar Vieira is worth exploring since it provides interesting insights from a theoretical and practical point of view. Some general recommendations on steps forward come from the contributions while a strong economic focus on their analysis persists in most of the chapters. Photocredits: Panaawat/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Early this month the Colombia Constitutional Court declared the law approved last year by which the Pacific Alliance members created a Cooperation Fund unconstitutional.

The Cooperation Fund is the mechanism designed to finance and put in operation all the core cooperation initiates within the Pacific Alliance including: social development, innovation, climate change and environmental action, and SMEs. The Fund is made up from the yearly financial contributions of the members and other contributions by third parties.

The decision was adopted because the Law 1749/2015 did not comply with all the formal procedures required by the Colombian Constitution for its approval by the Congress when it was issued last year.

This means that Colombia will need to start a new process for incorporation of the agreement for a cooperation fund with further delays for the fund to enter into operation which is not foreseen for early 2017.

It is not the first time a situation like this has taken place. If we remember back, the Colombian Constitutional Court declared the law approving the Framework Agreement of the Pacific Alliance unconstitutional for procedural reasons in 2014.

In the meantime, the Corporation Fund Agreement that was signed in May 2013 is in its final stages of incorporation by the other member states. Peru issued the formal Supreme Decree (N° 073-2015-RE) incorporating the Cooperation Fund Agreement in late 2015, after the congress approval of the agreement.  Procedures are also now finished in the Chilean Congress.

sources: www.corteconstitutional.gov.co
www.elperuano.com.pe
www.leychile.cl

Photocredits: Jan Pietruszka/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Abstract:
Not available

Resumen:
El presente artículo evalua la posibilidad de identificar la AP como un cambio en la estrategia de contestación de Colombia hacia el liderazgo de Brasil en Suramérica.
En ese sentido, se plantea que la AP puede interpretarse como el cambio de una estrategia de hard balancing colateral que se dio durante el gobierno del ex presidente Uribe, dada la cooperación militar con Estados Unidos, a una contestación institucional hacia el Mercosur liderado por Brasil.
Aunque se puede considerar la Alianza del Pacífico como una estrategia más en la diversificación geográfica y temática que ha planteado el presidente Santos para la agenda de la política exterior colombiana, también ha generado un efecto de contestación normativa a Brasil dado que el regionalismo que propone (abierto) se encuentra en contradicción en diversas ideas con el que fomenta la potencia regional (poshegemónico).

Authors: Daniel Flemes y Rafael Castro
Spanish Title: Colombia y Brasil frente a la Alianza del Pacífico y el Mercosur
Full document: 2015, Flemes & Castro, Colombia y Brasil frente a la Alianza del Pacífico y el Mercosur

The first week of March the High Level Group (HLG) of the Pacific Alliance gathered in its XXXIII official meeting in the city of Bogota, Colombia to follow up on the commitments and mandates of the last presidential declaration and to prepare for the presidential meeting programmed for July 2016.

Photocredits: alianzapacifico.net

The meeting of the HLG was preceded by two days of discussions within the technical groups. The Deputy Ministers examined the progress in areas such as institutional matters, cooperation, the movement of people,  SMEs, single window clearance systems, trade facilitation, customs cooperation and the communication strategy. The technical group on Genre Focus met for the first time.

The HLG also discussed the progress of the Ministers of Finance working plan for 2015-2016 and the situation in regard to the recommendations and proposals presented by the Pacific Alliance Business Council.

The next meeting of the HLG will be at the end of April 2016.

sources: www.alianzapacifico.net
www.sela.org