The Pacific Alliance had a busy week closing with the Presidential Summit on Friday 1 July where new mandates to guide the progress of the integration mechanism were decided on.

The presidential summit was preceded by meetings of the High Level Group, The Free Trade Commission, The Ministerial Council and the Metting of Ministers of Finance. The IV Business Metting also took place on the 29th June. In addition, the third meeting of higher education institutions of the PA on the 21 and 22 June was an opportunity to discuss the role of the academic and student mobility platform for the integration of the PA countries.

Steps were taken this week on various fronts. First the PA members approved an accord that sets the tax rate on pension funds investments returns at 10 percent. This agreement covering the pension funds from the four members is an effort to boost investment in infrastructure projects while opening up the pool of investment options for these entities within the region. However this is a ceiling rate that will only require implementation by Mexico since Chile and Peru have a rate that is already  5 per cent, while Colombia has a zero per cent rate for pension funds from the PA. In addition, a decision on the creation of a regional infrastructure fund is still pending.

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Abstract:
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Resumen:
La Alianza del Pacífico privilegia la integración como instrumento para mejorar el desarrollo económico y social, promover las capacidades de emprendimiento y conformar un espacio ampliado y competitivo que sea atractivo a las inversiones y el comercio, especialmente con la región del Asia Pacífico. El fin último es lograr que las cadenas productivas de los Estados Parte sean atractivas para el mundo y generen mayores oportunidades de encadenamientos, de inversión y de incorporación más intensa a las corrientes globales de comercio de bienes y servicios, para que ofrezcan nuevas oportunidades de negocios y empleo a sus economías.

Author: Juan Acuña Bolívar, Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA, Spanish Acronym)
Spanish Title: La Alianza del Pacífico en la Integración Latinoamericana y Caribeña
Full document:2013, SELA, La Alianza del Pacífico en la Integración Latinoamericana y Caribeña

The Presidents of the Pacific Alliance gathered to discuss the progress and steps forward in Puerto Varas, Chile on the 1st July 2016. The last meeting of the Presidents took place almost a year ago.

The highlights of the Presidential Summit and  the meetings on the outskirts of it include:

• General Guidelines on the Relational Aspect: The presidential mandates defined the basic activities to undertake in the short term regarding relations with observer states based on cooperation in four key areas: (i) trade facilitation; (ii) education; (iii) internationalization of SMEs; and (iv) science, technology, and innovation. A meeting with ministers of the 49 Observer states took place on the 30th June. Moving forward the PA will negotiate a Cooperation Framework with ASEAN and work on the areas agreed with Mercosur and the European Union. The PA recently signed an ‘Association Agreement with Canada’ setting the basis of the future cooperation between the two. Moreover, PA is examining the feasibility of a FTA with New Zealand.
• A large list of mandates is developed through the Presidential Declaration with nineteen areas for further action along with the agenda with third states. The mandates refer to activities in the areas of green development and sustainability, education, gender, joint work by health authorities, trade facilitation and customs cooperation, exploratory works in the area of labour and labour mobility, movement of people and migratory transit, specific cooperation within this technical group, services, consumer protection, regulatory cooperation and technical barriers to trade regarding specific products, SMEs, participation of SMEs in government procurement, tourism, innovation, pilot program to speed up patent processes, promotion of cultural products, sustainable mining and good practices, and promotion activities of the promotion agencies.
•  The Council of Ministers of Finance received a mandate to develop an action plan for the next year to further activities in the four key areas of work defined within the Paracas Declaration last year. These areas cover (i) financial integration, (ii) the development of a mechanism for infrastructure investment; (iii) catastrophic risk management; (iv) fiscal transparency.
• The ad hoc institutional structure keeps growing with the establishment of the Technical Group on Environment and Green Growth, The Labour Group and the Sub-Group on Digital Agenda.

The Presidential Summit was preceded by the III Business Summit of the PA gathering entrepreneurs and SMEs from the members, Brazil, Argentina, Costa Rica and Canada. The XVI meeting of the Council of Ministers also took place on 30th June 2016. After these meetings, Chile will assume the Presidency of the intergovernmental mechanism for the next year.
Photocredits: the photo in this post has been published under a Creative Commons license on Flickr under the user “David Ubilla” link: flickr.com
Sources: canadainternational.gc.ca
alianzapacifico.net
infolatam.com

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