BY MAURILIO SOTO
The News
Presidents from the Pacific Alliance member countries signed a commercial protocol to further liberalize goods, services and investments between member countries on Monday.
During the summit’s closing ceremony, President Enrique Peña Nieto said that the agreement is preparing the region to become more competitive, and that it means more jobs and greater mobility in trade, services and people.
He added that the agreement will also remove tariffs from 92 percent of products traded across the region, and that the other 8 percent will be freed at a later date.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said that the alliance has “started the motor of growth and prosperity in Latin America,” that the group believes in free trade, investment and understanding, and that “equality, poverty eradication and social indicators” are all on the rise in each of the member countries.
Former Colombian President Julio César Turbay said that the nations will not not have to be the ones knocking on the doors of the Asia-Pacific region, rather that “they want to come here and meet us.”
The Pacific Alliance founding countries — Colombia, Chile, Peru and Mexico — make up 35 percent of the population and 50 percent of total commerce in Latin America. During the summit, Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla signed a declaration stating her country’s intention to join the trade bloc.
“I think that this is a great tool, a great agreement of great transcendence, of great relevance in the economic realm and, consequently, in the political realm as well,” Peña Nieto said, adding that the alliance’s commercial protocol is the most innovative integration mechanism that Mexico has signed since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
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