With a series of public-private dialogues, which will take place this year, the regional mechanism advances in the construction of a Road Map for the Creation of Digital Talent.

July 22, 2020 – Today the Webinar “Public-private actions to accelerate the creation of Digital Talent in the Pacific Alliance” was held, the first session of a series of public-private dialogues promoted by the Pacific Alliance (PA), with the support of the IDB and the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution of Colombia, in order to build a Road Map for the creation of Digital Talent for the mechanism.

This first session was attended by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism of Colombia, José Manuel Restrepo, and the Undersecretary of International Economic Relations of Chile, Rodrigo Yáñez. Authorities who stressed that the PA countries must be prepared to take on the challenges and opportunities represented by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), such as addressing the skills gaps identified by the private sector, which is urgent to ensure a higher rate of employability and adapt to the demands of the work of the future, thus improving the productivity and competitiveness of the economies.

Minister José Manuel Restrepo pointed out that “today more than ever where leadership is needed, these spaces become indispensable and the Pacific Alliance is the best scenario to do it. Especially when the focus is on human talent, its challenges and its transformation into this new better normality”.

In his speech, Undersecretary Rodrigo Yáñez highlighted that the final objective of these dialogues, in addition to making the needs and priorities of the private sector visible, is the preparation of a Digital Talent Road Map for the Pacific Alliance, which “can include specific public policy actions and business initiatives aimed at the creation, acceleration and sustainability of digital talent in our countries. Addressing these challenges is essential to the future recovery of our economies,” he said.

In the course of the seminar, Anayda Frisneda, Microsoft Corporate Manager, who made a presentation on Digital Competencies, stressed that “a road map is very important, it involves joining efforts. We have to talk about an articulated plan between government, private sector, civil society and trained institutions”.

A public-private dialogue was also held, moderated by Santiago Pinzón, Vice President of Digital Transformation of the ANDI, Colombia, with the participation of Víctor Muñoz, Presidential Advisor for Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Colombia; Mónica Retamal, President of the Kodea Foundation, member of the Digital Talent Program, Chile; Marushka Chocobar Reyes, Secretary of Digital Government of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Peru; and Nidia Chávez, Director of Fundación Telefónica, Mexico.

Among the topics discussed were the diagnosis, lessons learned, and what is being done to build digital talent in the region, as well as how this process can be accelerated in the face of post-pandemic economic recovery.

As a complement to this activity, in the afternoon a Workshop was held to advance in the construction of the road map, where officials from the four countries, accompanied by experts from the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the IDB, delved into issues such as the level of gap existing in the region, the key elements to accelerate the creation of digital talent, the identification of short-term actions that the State should prioritize for the generation of digital talent in the countries of the Pacific Alliance, among others.

Digital Talent Figures

The Digital Programs chapter of the study on Transversal Skills in LAC in the 21st Century, points out:

• “Information Technology professions account for 38% of the total demand for skills in Latin America, and it is estimated that more than 1.25 million developers will be needed by 2025”.

According to the 2018 survey on Skill Gaps in Latin America:

• 77% of companies in Alliance countries have difficulties filling vacancies despite having candidates. Being the lack of general skills one of the most important barriers to recruitment.

Based on a study conducted by the IDB on the competence and skills of the 4IR in AR, BR, ME, CH and CO:

• 28% of companies invest in R&D.
• 29% of companies use Big Data / Analytics technology and consider it a central aspect of their business.
• 51% of companies use digital and mobile platform technologies and consider them a central aspect of their business.
• 60% of companies identify STEM skills as key to their business, and 29% of these companies point out a lack of these skills.

At the seminar, tourism authorities from the PA and the EU discussed the exit strategies of the containment measures and the public-private work they are developing for the gradual resumption of tourism activity in the old continent.

July 14th, 2020. Today, the seminar “European Union-Pacific Alliance Dialogues: On the road to reactivation of the post-COVID tourism industry” took place, with the participation of the Under-secretaries and government representatives of Tourism of the four countries of the Pacific Alliance -Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru-, as well as representatives of the European Commission, the EU Foreign Service and tourism sector authorities from Austria, Spain, Finland and Portugal.

At the opening, which was led by the Undersecretary for International Economic Relations of Chile (Subrei), Rodrigo Yáñez, in his capacity as pro tempore presidency of the PA, he stressed that every effort must be made to quickly and appropriately design a revival for this sector, which is so important for the Pacific Alliance and the European Union. The director for the Americas at the European External Action Service, Javier Niño Perez, said that the European Union is working on strategies to reactivate tourism based on the establishment of rules that give peace of mind and security. Both authorities highlighted concern about the drop in growth in the sector, where the estimated losses of the tourism industry this year for Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru are forecast to reach US$15.3 billion.

Subsequently, the representative of the European Commission (DG GROW – Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs), Florencia Cuervo, presented the general EU policy framework in support of the post-pandemic tourism sector.

In turn, the Undersecretaries of Tourism of the Pacific Alliance countries presented the regional and local panorama of the sector’s impact due to the pandemic.

The Seminar then focused its development on the measures that had been adopted in Austria, Spain and Portugal. Experts explained the economic measures established by those countries, as well as biosecurity protocols, digital capacity building and the importance of developing tourism with sustainability.

It should be noted that this activity takes place within the framework of the Joint Declaration signed by the European Union and the Pacific Alliance. A second seminar is expected to be held during the second semester in order to share experiences in the development and implementation of measures to reactivate the sector.

Cooperation projects are expected to be launched in the areas of education, labour, tourism, SMEs, gender, among others, with resources from the Pacific Alliance Cooperation Fund, support from the IDB and cooperation from the European Union.

July 9th, 2020. The virtual meeting of the High Level Group (GAN, by its acronym in Spanish) of the Pacific Alliance (PA), made up of the Vice-Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, was recently held.

The meeting was led by Rodrigo Yáñez, Undersecretary of International Economic Relations of Chile – the country holding the pro tempore presidency of the regional bloc – and was attended by the Vice-Ministers of Multilateral Affairs, Adriana Mejía, and of Foreign Trade, Laura Valdivieso, from Colombia; the Undersecretary for Latin America and the Caribbean, Maximiliano Reyes, and the Undersecretary for Foreign Trade, Luz María de la Mora, both authorities of Mexico; and the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jaime Pomareda, and the Vice-Minister of Foreign Trade, Sayuri Bayona of Peru.

The authorities reviewed the progress of the Work Plan to address COVID-19, which they approved last April, and which included measures in 14 priority areas such as market access, productive linkages, trade facilitation, support to our SMEs, tourism, e-commerce, among others.

The GAN also evaluated the projects submitted to the Cooperation Fund of the mechanism, whose resources will be used to alleviate the economic and social effects of the coronavirus in the countries of the PA.

For the time being, the GAN approved four projects presented by the Technical Groups of the mechanism:

• a promotion plan for the revival of tourism;
• the creation of a Social Observatory (which will also be supported by the European Union’s EUROsociAL + programme);
• a training plan to strengthen the digital skills of teachers and teaching managers; and
• strengthening the tourism sector through virtual training in PA countries.

In addition, the GAN agreed to continue working jointly with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) to develop other projects in the Work Plan to deal with COVID-19. Among the proposed projects, the following stand out: the Virtual Macro-round of Tourism of the Pacific Alliance 2020; the Policy Report on Reconciliation of Work and Family Life, and its impact on women entrepreneurs in the post-COVID-19 context; and the creation of web platforms on the digital economy.

On the occasion, the authorities highlighted the success of other actions promoted by the Technical Groups and Committees of the mechanism, such as the Covid Challenge, which was carried out with the support of the IDB, and for which 396 initiatives with innovative solutions to alleviate the pandemic were presented. The eight winning projects, two from each Pacific Alliance country, will receive seed money and advice from PA experts. Regarding trade facilitation, the online procedures for receiving certificates of origin and health certificates in digital form were highlighted; this has undoubtedly supported exporters during this period.

In terms of Trade Promotion, the adequacy of business macro-rounds in a digital way was analyzed, highlighting the success of the first e-round carried out with the United Kingdom, which achieved concrete business for US$1.5 million and expectations for US$17 million for the 50 exporters of the four countries. The next macro-rounds will be: Intra-Alliance and Central America, Europe and Asia-Oceania.

March 13th, 2020 – The Vice Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, who make up the High Level Group (GAN, by its acronym in Spanish) of the Pacific Alliance, met in Lima, Peru, in order to evaluate strategic topics of this integration mechanism.

The GAN, at its first meeting in 2020, assessed progress in presidential mandates and issues related to the governance of the mechanism; in addition, it received the Director for the Americas of the European Foreign Service, Edit Hrdá, to discuss the current Pacific Alliance-EU agenda and identify possible cooperation actions within the framework of the Joint Declaration signed in 2019.

On the other hand, the GAN received Jessica Soto, Manager of Economic Affairs of the National Confederation of Private Business Institutions (CONFIEP) and Chapter of Peru in the Pacific Alliance Business Council (CEAP). The GAN had a detailed explanation of the actions that CEAP is developing and the actions that are being taken in the governments in this regard.

In addition, the GAN analyzed the measures that are being taken in the Pacific Alliance countries with regard to COVID-19 and agreed on the need to coordinate efforts in the face of the commercial impact that it might have.

In the framework of this meeting, the technical groups that make up the Pacific Alliance met. Likewise, the Committees that are part of the Trade Agreement of the mechanism met.

The Pacific Alliance is a regional integration initiative made up of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, officially created on April 28^th, 2011. The countries of the mechanism represent the world’s eighth largest economy.

With the participation of representatives of the public and private sectors, a dialogue on innovation as the main instrument for generating productivity and competitiveness of SMEs was held in Lima.

The public-private dialogue aimed to identify the barriers and challenges that SMEs face to innovate, as well as to know the instruments to bring innovation closer to SMEs and the strategies of the startup model. All this in order to give them adequate support that allows them to transcend and internationalize, taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the Pacific Alliance.

During the event, the relevance of SMEs for the Pacific Alliance was highlighted and initiatives in favor of these were disseminated, such as the CAF Fund; likewise, the importance of the Pacific Alliance innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem made up of initiatives such as AcelerAP or InnovAP was underlined.

It should be noted that the Pacific Alliance considers the development of innovation as the main instrument to increase the productivity and competitiveness of SMEs in the region; since innovation contributes to the acquisition of new knowledge and capabilities, it shortens technological gaps and accelerates the internationalization of SMEs.

Lima, Peru, March 10th, 2020 – Today, at the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism of Peru, the signing of the Agreement for the creation of a voluntary registration of Engineering professionals from the countries of the Pacific Alliance took place.

This Agreement will allow the visibility of the Pacific Alliance Engineers at regional level, facilitating liaison with companies from other Alliance countries and generating for the four countries greater opportunities in this area, future production chains and increased commercial exchange.

This Agreement was agreed upon by nine participants: the College of Engineers of Chile, the National Professional Council of Engineering of Colombia; the National Professional Council of Electrical, Mechanical and Related Professions of Colombia; the Professional Council of Transport and Roads Engineering of the Republic of Colombia; the Professional Council of Chemical Engineering of Colombia; the Professional Council of Naval Engineering of Colombia; the Mexican Committee for the International Practice of Engineering in Mexico; the Technical Advisory Commission of Engineering of Mexico; and the College of Engineers of Peru.

An Engineering professional who meets the established criteria and requirements may belong to a voluntary registry that will give him/her greater visibility, prestige and reliability when working in other countries of the Alliance.

Alejandro Buvinic, National Coordinator of Chile said that this Agreement “represents a boost for the deepening of a better trade in professional Engineering services within the Alliance. We are enthusiastic that the Colleges and Professional Engineering Councils of Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico have been able to sign this agreement, which will also bring immediate results.

Within the framework of the meetings of the Technical Groups and the High Level Group of the Pacific Alliance is held in Lima, Peru, the training “Gender Mainstreaming in the Pacific Alliance” aimed at the Technical Groups that make up this integration mechanism.

The event was opened by the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Peru, Jaime Pomareda, the Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade of Peru, Sayuri Bayona and the General Director of Gender Equality and Non-Discrimination of the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations, Jeannette Llaja.

In his opening remarks, the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Peru, stressed that carrying out this training constitutes in itself the fulfillment of a presidential mandate of the Pacific Alliance and that the presence of technical groups in this activity contributes to the purpose of mainstream the gender approach in the activities of the Pacific Alliance.

She also highlighted that “activities like this are a tribute and a clear message for women, in the sense that gender equality is a priority topic on our agendas.”  For her part, Vice Minister Bayona, stressed that this activity is a space for reflection so that, from the different technical groups of the Pacific Alliance, the role of women can be addressed in order to achieve a more just and equitable society.

As part of the training, the conference “Mainstreaming gender equality: with an emphasis on trade and gender” was held by the consultant to the Inter-American Development Bank, Alicia Frohmann, during which members of the various Technical Groups of the Pacific Alliance actively participated.

At the end of her presentation, the speaker highlighted that this activity represents a pioneering effort with a special level of depth in order to reach all the technical groups of the Pacific Alliance. She also emphasized that this is an initiative never before carried out in any country in Latin America and the world; in that regard, she congratulated the Technical Group of Gender for this activity.