MEXICO PARTICIPATES IN THE 12TH MEETING OF THE HIGH-LEVEL GROUP OF THE PACIFIC ALLIANCE

• Representatives from Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru met in Lima.
 

• Together, the four countries of the Pacific Alliance rank ninth in the global economy.

Yesterday, the Pacific Alliance held the twelfth meeting of its High-Level Group (HLG) with representatives from Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru to follow up on the sixth summit that was held in Santiago, Chile on January 27th.

The Undersecretaries of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of the four countries discussed the progress made in reaching the Pacific Alliance’s integration goals.

The technical groups for trade and integration and institutional affairs, as well as the subgroup for communications strategy, made progress reports to the HLG.

The representatives from the member countries highlighted the progress made in market access, rules of origin and institutional issues. The negotiators were instructed to conclude their work on liberalization by March 31st.

For trade, Mexico’s negotiating team was led by Francisco de Rosenzweig, the Economy Ministry’s Undersecretary for Foreign Trade. The Undersecretary for Latin America and the Caribbean, Vanessa Marquez Rubio, headed the delegation from the Mexican Foreign Ministry.

The market access group discussed ways to fulfill the mandate of the Santiago Summit on tariff liberalization, rules of origin and trade facilitation.

The Pacific Alliance has awakened great interest in the world. Currently, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Spain and Uruguay have joined Costa Rica and Panama as observer states. Japan and Guatemala were accepted recently. Therefore, issues related to the participation of observer countries were also discussed at the meeting.

Lastly, the HLG emphasized that the member countries must take all necessary domestic measures as soon as possible so that the Framework Agreement can enter into force. 

 The four countries of the Pacific Alliance together are the size of the ninth largest global economy and the eighth largest exporter in the world, with a potential market of 209 million people. Its exports in 2011 totaled 534 billion dollars and its imports, 519 billion dollars.

In 2011, total trade between Mexico and the Pacific Alliance represented 30 percent of total trade with Latin America, reaching 12.498 billion dollars.

For Mexican producers, the Pacific Alliance represents a potential market of 93 million consumers. This could primarily benefit our SMEs given that we share a language and culture and have similar economic models.