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Interview: Pacific Alliance focuses on commercial freedom, integration

Xinhua, June 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Pacific Alliance Summit 2016, which began Tuesday in the Chilean city of Puerto Varas, will show the bloc is on the right track to commercial openness, Chilean lawmaker Jorge Tarud has said.

"This meeting will show that things are progressing well among the bloc, with the right blend of commercial openness and political pragmatism," said Tarud, president of the Chamber of Deputies' foreign relations committee, in an interview with Xinhua.

The Pacific Alliance is a bloc created in April 2011 by Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, four Latin American countries that border the Pacific Ocean, to promote regional integration. The 9th summit is taking place from Tuesday to Friday in Puerto Varas, around 1,000 km south of Santiago.

It will bring together the four heads of state -- Chile's Michelle Bachelet, Peru's Ollanta Humala, Mexico's Enrique Peña Nieto, and Colombia's Juan Manuel Santos -- as well as President Mauricio Macri of Argentina as a guest of honor.

On the agenda is revisiting the bloc's vision for regional integration. Seen as an example of free trade in a region, the Pacific Alliance seeks to forge closer ties with other blocs such as Mercosur, the Southern Common Market.

The four countries and Argentina will also hold a business summit for their entrepreneurs to discuss potential commercial opportunities.

Mexican ambassador to Chile Ruben Beltran Guerrero told Mexican press agency Notimex on Tuesday that "the Pacific Alliance is rooted as a good idea and a good project. We have a common vision of effective integration, which will help boost our productivity and exports to Asia, for example."

In Tarud's view, "This is clearly a sign that other Latin American countries are seeking commercial opening-up and to move beyond protectionism."

"Our emphasis is clearly on the freedom of trade and Macri's visit is a gesture from beyond Mercosur's members," he commented.

Asked about the bloc potentially expanding, Tarud said it would make sense for Ecuador to join, as "geographically, it should be part of the Alliance. However, this is obviously for President Rafael Correa to outline." Endit