THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF THE PACIFIC ALLIANCE MEETS IN MEXICO

The first meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Pacific Alliance was held today in the Mexican Foreign Ministry with the participation of Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa and Economy Minister Bruno Ferrari, as well as the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Chile, Colombia and Peru.

The ministers heard a report on the 7th meeting of the High-Level Group that was held on August 23 and 24 in Puerto Varas, Chile and the progress made by the technical groups on the commitments made at the fourth summit of the Pacific Alliance that was held on June 6, 2012 in Paranal, Chile.

The ministers made progress on defining the institutional mechanisms of the Pacific Alliance. They also began a dialogue with those responsible for tourism in the member countries, signing a cooperation agreement to increase tourism between member countries.

The Pacific Alliance Business Council, comprised of 14 business leaders from the four countries and designed to encourage the integration of the private sector, was installed and the agreement to establish the business council was signed.

In addition, the third meeting of Pacific Alliance trade agencies was held between Proexport Colombia, ProChile, Promperú and ProMéxico.

The Chairman of the Mexican Stock Exchange, Luis Tellez, presented a report to the Council of Ministers on Mexico’s possible participation in the Integrated Latin American Market (MILA), which currently includes Chile, Colombia and Peru.

The meeting concluded with the launch, in the Mexico City Hilton Hotel, of "The Flavors of the Pacific Alliance" food festival. Samples of food prepared by renowned chefs from the four countries may be tasted during the next ten days.

The Pacific Alliance is a deep integration process that aims to build a regional integration area to move progressively towards the free movement of goods, services, capital and people, encourage more growth, development and competitiveness of the member economies and become a group with a global impact, with specific emphasis on the Asia-Pacific.

For Mexico, the Pacific Alliance partners represent a growing market with a population of 93 million inhabitants. The Pacific Alliance as a whole is the third largest destination of Mexican exports, just behind the United States and Canada. In 2011, Mexico sold 8.991 million dollars to the region.
Mexico’s foreign direct investment (FDI) in these countries is more than 23 billion dollars, or 31.5% of total Mexican FDI in Latin America.