Giving new life to Mercosur and closer links with the Pacific Alliance are the main challenges of his office said Aloysio Nunes, Brazil's new foreign minister. In as brief statement in Facebook the ex senator and chair of the foreign affair committee also insists that Mercosur must open to the world and reach more agreements with other countries and trade spaces.
UK Foreign Office Minister Hugo Swire has introduced a new set of Chevening scholarships for Latin America, the “Pacific Alliance Chevening scholarships”, arguing that the success of the Pacific Alliance forms an integral part of Britain's re-engagement with the region.
Over 150 representatives of British companies and businesses attended the conference on the Pacific Alliance (Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico) organized by the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the Financial Times. The Alliance is considered one of the newest and most promising political and economic blocks is emerging from Latin America.
The Pacific Alliance made its official presentation in New York before 200 business people and investors, mostly from the US, with four top anchor men: the presidents of Chile, Peru and Colombia and Mexico’s foreign trade minister since head of state Enrique Peña Nieto had to remain in the country because of the catastrophic floods.
The Alliance of the Pacific, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico, has again given evidence of its potential in Latinamerica: total exports in 2012 reached 556 billion dollars and imports 551 billion, which means the four countries consolidated concentrate 50% of the continent’s foreign trade.
Uruguayan president Jose Mujica said that Mercosur should give its members more space to negotiate with third parties and supported linking to the Alliance of the Pacific, which nevertheless he argued is “part of a geopolitical involving China” and not accepted by Brazil.
The Pacific Alliance is a ‘marketing success’ and does not represent a concern for Mercosur since it does not have the potential for physical integration as other blocks from the region, said Brazilian Foreign minister Antonio Patriota during a congressional hearing this week in Brasilia.
Paraguay has made official its request to become an observer of the Pacific Alliance, (Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Peru), as part of its policy to strengthen relations with other countries that goes beyond Mercosur and has proven very successful for the exchange of experiences.
Uruguay will continue “to look after” Mercosur in spite of the strong diplomatic discrepancies with Argentina, but will also continue with an interest in participating in other trade blocks of the region, said President Jose Mujica.
Paraguay is sounding the recently created Pacific Block made up of Colombia, Peru, Chile and Mexico with the possibility of considering applying to join it, revealed the country’s Foreign affairs minister Jose Fernandez Estigarribia.