Saturday 04 October 2008, San José, Costa
Rica
LATAM-ASIA:
Integration Won’t Be
Affected by Crisis
By Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO (IPS) - The
recently created Latin
America Pacific Arc will
not modify its strategy
of integration with Asia
"because of unfavourable
financial circumstances"
like the current crisis,
Chilean Foreign Minister
Alejandro Foxley said
Friday after the group’s
fourth meeting in the
Chilean capital.
The bloc, made up of
Chile, Colombia, Costa
Rica, Ecuador, El
Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras, Mexico,
Nicaragua, Panama and
Peru, ended its fourth
ministerial meeting with
the adoption of the
Declaration of Santiago.
Also participating in
the meeting were
delegates from Canada,
as an observer, and from
China, South Korea,
Japan and Australia.
"The U.S. government
also expressed an
interest in seeking some
kind of link in the
future with the Latin
America Pacific Arc,"
Foxley told a press
conference, adding that
this possibility would
be discussed within the
group.
"We know that at this
time there is enormous
uncertainty in the
financial markets.
However, we want to make
it clear that we are not
going to modify the path
to integration among the
countries of Latin
America (with Pacific
shorelines) and their
projection towards Asia
because of unfavourable
financial
circumstances," he said.
"Our commitment to work
together and project
ourselves as a bloc
towards the Asia-Pacific
region is stable, and is
a medium to long-term
undertaking," he
stressed.
"The 11 countries that
are part of this forum
share the view that in
difficult times like the
ones we are experiencing
in our economy, we
definitely need more
trade, not less," said
Mexico’s deputy minister
for international trade,
Beatriz Leycegui.
Foxley also underlined
that the group has the
"full backing" of the
member countries’
presidents, who will
meet on the occasion of
the next Ibero-American
Summit, to be held Oct.
29-31 in El Salvador, to
give the initiative a
boost.
The founding document of
the Latin America
Pacific Arc, which was
born in January 2007 in
Colombia, stipulates
that the bloc’s
ministers of foreign
relations and trade will
hold an annual meeting,
and that the deputy
ministers will meet once
a year as well.
Four working groups were
also created: on
investment, trade
facilitation,
convergence of trade
agreements, and economic
cooperation and
competitiveness.
The Arc "is a group of
countries in the process
of consolidation," said
Foxley.
"The countries of the
Arc share a strong
conviction that we have
done the homework that
had to be done to
prepare ourselves for an
eventuality like this
one (the financial
crisis), carrying out
productive
transformation
processes, following
healthy, balanced fiscal
policies, and reducing
the public debt," said
the Chilean minister.
Thus, "we can confront
external shocks in
conditions that are much
more favourable than the
ones we had in past
decades, and I believe
that in the next few
weeks that will be
demonstrated," said
Foxley, although he did
not rule out
"turbulence" generated
by "subjective
expectations held by
millions of consumers
and private economic
agents."
Deputy minister Leycegui
praised the group’s
"pragmatic focus" that
she said is oriented
towards "specific
projects."
Foxley said that one of
the working groups
identified 72 regional
investment projects in
infrastructure and
energy.
Business representatives
from throughout the
region will thus be
invited to the next
ministerial meeting,
slated for March 2009 in
Panama.
The Asia-Pacific region
is the fastest-growing
region in the world, and
in 10 years will account
for 50 percent of all
global trade, said
Leycegui.
The Arc "is open to
other countries," said
Foxley, who added that
it will not compete with
other regional blocs
like the Southern Common
Market (Mercosur), made
up of Argentina, Brazil,
Paraguay and Uruguay
(Venezuela is in the
process of joining as a
fifth full member), and
the Andean Community,
which brings together
Bolivia, Colombia,
Ecuador and Peru.
"The important thing is
to break with the
inertia at an
international level with
respect to progress
towards globalisation,"
he said.
"We are concerned
because the Doha Round
(of World Trade
Organisation talks)
didn't work, and because
the free trade
initiative of APEC
(Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation forum),
which was first set
forth in Hanoi and later
reiterated in Sydney,
has not yet made
progress," said Foxley.
"We believe that a kind
of vacuum has been
generated at an
international level with
respect to initiatives
aimed in the direction
of Doha and an
Asia-Pacific free trade
accord, and we want to
promote several
convergent initiatives,"
he added.
These include the Arc
and the Trans-Pacific
Strategic Economic
Partnership Agreement
(P4), signed by Chile,
Singapore, New Zealand
and Brunei, which was
recently joined by the
United States and has
extended an invitation
to Peru.
"This is a gradual
process of convergence
that could eventually
lead to an expanded free
trade area," said Foxley.
The bloc has the
technical support of the
Inter-American
Development Bank (IDB),
the United Nations
Economic Commission for
Latin America and the
Caribbean (ECLAC), and
the Andean Development
Corporation. |
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