Pacific Alliance has a high standard for new members

The Pacific Alliance, comprising Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Peru as full members, has a high standard for new members, said Francisco de Rosenzweig, partner at White & Case.

He described as «a good sign» of the value of the Pacific Alliance that there is a growing number of countries seeking to join.

«The fact that there are those interested in joining the Alliance tells you about the value of the Alliance itself, but it is also true that there is a fairly high standard in the Alliance that is not common in Latin America,» said De Rosenzweig, who was undersecretary of Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Economy in the past decade.

«I think that is one of the main challenges that any Central American or Latin American country that wants to join as a full founding member will have,» he added.

Eight countries are in various stages of progress to join the Pacific Alliance, an economic bloc made up of Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Peru.

On January 26, 2022, within the framework of the XVI Summit of the Pacific Alliance, the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Singapore and the Pacific Alliance was signed, which, once ratified by the parties and entering into force, will make Singapore the first associate state of the Alliance.

Pacific Alliance

In addition to Singapore, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea, as associate states, and Ecuador, Honduras and Costa Rica, as full members, are also in the process of joining.

For Mexico, the Pacific Alliance is the most important integration mechanism in Latin America.

Through the cooperation and goodwill of the governments of the four countries, it seeks to advance toward the free movement of goods, services, capital and people.

The Pacific Alliance represents an attractive market for diversification, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (including women’s businesses), due to its geographic proximity, language and common customs.

Likewise, the Pacific Alliance has facilitated trade, through its Trade Protocol and the active work of its more than thirty groups, which transversally promote actions on gender, sustainability, digital trade, among other issues that allow us to have a sustainable and inclusive agenda, in favor of its populations.

Companies

Within the framework of the Technical Group of Promotion Agencies of the Pacific Alliance, the Macro Business Roundtable is organized annually with the participation of exporters of agricultural products from the four countries that make up the trade bloc with selected markets.

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Macro Business Roundtable has been divided into three virtual business roundtables per year, aimed at covering all the strategic markets, where agricultural exporters from Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru present their food and beverage exports to potential buyers.