Pacific Alliance

• Tuesday, December 9th 2014 - 23:03 UTC

  Mercosur lacks discipline and has become a 'straitjacket' for trade negotiations

  

  Mercosur must discipline and return to its origin as a customs union since it has become a 'straitjacket' for negotiations with other regional blocks, according to Lia Valls, foreign trade coordinator at the Brazilian Economics Institute belonging to the prestigious thinktank Getulio Vargas foundation.

• Friday, November 28th 2014 - 06:30 UTC

  Uruguay praises Mercosur as the “main buyer” of the country's exports

  

  Uruguay’s Foreign Minister Luis Almagro highlighted that Mercosur is the “main buyer” of Uruguayan exports and strongly defended the country's presence in the regional group, a controversial issue since much of the country's political system and most of the business community want a more dynamic, open trade block.

• Thursday, November 27th 2014 - 06:19 UTC

  Mercosur/Pacific Alliance agree on flexible integration but no talk on tariffs

  

  Mercosur and the Pacific Alliance explored this week in Chile the possibilities of a gradual, and flexible, integration but left aside all possibility of a near future agreement on tariffs.

• Wednesday, November 26th 2014 - 09:41 UTC

  Pacific Alliance and Mercosur represent 90% of Latam and Caribbean GDP

  

  The Pacific Alliance (PA) and the Common Market of the South (Mercosur) combined represent more than 80% of regional foreign trade as well as population, and more than 90% of GDP and direct foreign investment flows, according to a new report by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

• Wednesday, November 5th 2014 - 04:06 UTC

  “Mercosur and Pacific Alliance are not contradictory competing blocks”

  

  Mercosur and the Pacific Alliance are not contradictory competing blocks, and can advance towards a mutually beneficial convergence, said Chile's Economy minister Luis Felipe Cespedes during a trade and investment promotion seminar in Brazil.

• Monday, November 3rd 2014 - 08:41 UTC

  Pacific Alliance and Mercosur agree to continue discussions in Chile

  

  Mercosur and Pacific Alliance foreign affairs ministers met this weekend in Colombia for a first round of talks on integration mechanisms and the potential for specific alliances. The idea of the meeting was first launched by Chile with the purpose of a 'convergence' of interests and a possible future integration.

• Friday, October 31st 2014 - 08:27 UTC

  Pacific Alliance and Mercosur begin round of ministerial informative meetings

  

  The Pacific Alliance and Mercosur will be holding a two-day ministerial informative meeting in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, beginning this Friday, a first approach to a possible convergence of the two groupings, according to official releases.

• Thursday, October 30th 2014 - 10:53 UTC

  Looking to “Doing Business” in Latam, try the Pacific Alliance, forget Mercosur

  

  The World Bank's “Doing Business” global rating is not very enthusiastic about Latin American and the Caribbean which only first surfaces in position 34 out of the 189 countries considered.

• Friday, October 24th 2014 - 20:13 UTC

  Pacific Alliance and Mercosur have “a shared vision of regional integration”

  

  Pacific Alliance and Mercosur country members will be holding a meeting in Colombia “to plan the productive future of Latin America with a shared vision” announced Mexico's minister of economy Ildefonso Guajardo.

• Thursday, October 23rd 2014 - 05:52 UTC

  Neves wants Brazil to have the Pacific Alliance as an integration reference

  

  Brazilian presidential opposition candidate Aecio Neves insisted that if elected he will review Mercosur rules and make them “more flexible” so that the country can reach bilateral agreements with third parties and not limited by the consensus clause of the trade block. He also mentioned the Pacific Alliance as a pragmatic integration reference.