New regional blocks, more than a free trade agreement

1. New regional blocks, more than a free trade agreement
By: Florencia Bunge
Almost two years ago, Mexico, Chile, Peru and Colombia created a subregional trade
bloc: Pacific Alliance.
The proposal was unveiled in Lima ( Peru ) , on April 28, 2011 , through the
Declaration of Lima, in order to "encourage regional integration and further growth ,
development and competitiveness " of the economies their countries , while they
pledged to "progressively move towards the goal of achieving the free movement of
goods, services , capital and persons ."
Many presidents and prime ministers around the world, did not give much importance,
just was a similar proposal to Mercosur, ALBA, and other regional blocs. The surprise
came a week ago, when the group representing more than a third of gross domestic
product in Latin America announced its strategic lines, sealing a protocol through
which eliminated tariffs on 92% of products sold Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru,
among other.
Importantly, the signing of this agreement implies a market of over 210 million
consumers, which expands upon each good in each country take advantage of
integration and partnerships to achieve will reach the market in Asia.
But the union of these countries goes beyond building an area of integration to the
free movement of goods, services, capital and people. They also seek to promote a
greater wellbeing, overcoming socio-economic inequalities and social inclusion of the
people, in order to work together in political, trade and economic issues with global
impact.
An example of this is that Chile and Colombia have announced that they will share in
Azerbaijan embassies and embassy to the OECD, in France , one of the objectives of
the Alliance achieve deep integration space .
Through the analysis we see that in less than three years, the Alliance, which accounts
for 50 % of total trade, attracting 41 % of foreign direct investment into the region ,
has become everyone's interest, especially of leaders on the continent who have
already shown interest in being part of this successful group. The President of Costa
Rica, Laura Chinchilla, was in Cartagena with Sebastián Piñera, Ollanta Humala, Juan
Manuel Santos and Enrique Peña Nieto at the recent summit of the Alliance, and
signed a declaration of intent to become a member of the box , which is could realize
in 2015. Panama and Guatemala have also expressed interest in being part of this club.
Now, after a week of full of praise, advertisements, actions, and good intentions,
comes the most awaited moment: see if it is really the key to Latin American
integration and trade liberalization or simply a free trade agreement. Time will tell.
This article has been based on Florencia Bunge personal opinion.
www.florenciabunge.com