The Pacific Alliance is now operating and producing results which are favorable to the development of the nations which compose it, and it is a natural environment for Central American countries to be integrated into.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Editorial
The very apt comparison made by analyst Andres Oppenheimer between the economic blocs Mercosur-Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela-, and the Pacific Alliance-Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru (soon to also include Costa Rica) - shows the major conceptual differences between one group and another, and the concrete results generated for the development of their people.
While the Pacific Alliance presents itself to the world as a homogeneous block for trade policies and tariffs, announcing the elimination of tariffs, for its members, on 90% of what they produce, the president of Uruguay, former guerrilla Jose Mujica, declares that "... We can not and must not deceive ourselves, in recent years MERCOSUR has became very stagnant and it is increasingly difficult to trade among its members, rather than being a common market, it is in fact just a bad customs union ... ".
Perhaps the best definition of the conceptual distance between the two blocks has been made by the president of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, who said when presenting her country's aspiration to join the Pacific Alliance: "... we have had enough of ideology, slogans, and trying to find scapegoats ... We have to assume our responsibility and complete the work to be done in terms of development. "
Analysis of the impact of the Trans-Pacific Partnership on the region.
The competition which sectors such as textiles could face is one of the elements raising questions among employers in the region, compared to the real benefits that could be accrued if Central America participates in the Strategic Economic Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).
The Pacific Alliance has become the largest market in Latin America and an attractive investment for companies in third party countries who want to use it.
"In 2012, the Gross Domestic Product of the Pacific Partnership (AP by its initials in Spanish) grew by 5%, two points higher than that recorded by the global economy.
The Panamanian business sector believes that this could affect sensitive sectors such as agriculture and industrial production, if the nation joins the group.
Manuel Ferreira, chief economist of the Chamber of Commerce, said that caution should be exercised in this regard "especially as we had a hard time safeguarding these sensitivities in treaties with Colombia, Chile and Peru, which are members of the Alliance, and now the possibility arising of opening all sectors is of great concern. "
To complete the integration process the Costa Rican Congress must ratify the FTA with Colombia and the framework agreement of the Pacific Alliance.
"... President Laura Chinchilla yesterday began a race against time, as she wants by the end of her term, to make Costa Rica's integration into the trade bloc a reality", reported Nacion.com.
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4578Government Procurement Opportunities in the region
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