August 10, 2021.- The official launch of the Pacific Alliance Regional Labor Observatory, supported by the Technical Labor Group of the PA, was held this Tuesday. Its objective will be to contribute to the analysis of the dynamics of the labor market in order to adapt university training programs and facilitate the labor market insertion of university graduates in the Pacific Alliance.

The event, held virtually, had the participation of Adela Maestre, director of Regional Coordination and Integration Mechanisms of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, representing the pro tempore presidency, and Janet Ortega, coordinator of the Technical Labor Group of the PA.

“This observatory will facilitate and strengthen the incorporation of our citizens into the labor market, while promoting the exchange of experiences and opening the space for dialogue to provide approaches that enrich our public policies in this matter,” said Adela Maestre.

During its four-year duration, the project, financed by the Erasmus+ program of the European Union (EU), will propose a package of activities that will allow the homogenization of methodologies and tools used in the PA countries to measure and control variables related to employment, the labor market and the insertion of professionals into the real sector in areas of knowledge specific to their training.

In addition, the implementation of the labour observatory in Higher Education Institutions will offer students and professionals a reliable system of information on existing opportunities in the region’s industries and will allow them to find work abroad more easily.

“Our accompaniment in this task is given since the Technical Education Group had an approach with the Technical Labor Group in order to present the EMPLE-AP project, which is financed by the Erasmus+ program of the European Union and in which 14 Universities of the 4 member countries of the Alliance, as well as Universities of the European Union participate,” said Janet Ortega.

The Higher Education Institutions that are part of the EMPLE-AP consortium are: Universidade do Porto -U. PORTO-, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria –ULPGC, Universidad César Vallejo -UCV-, Universidad Continental -UC-, Instituto Profesional Providencia -IPP-, Universidad de Valparaíso -UV-, Universidad Autónoma del Noreste -UANE-, Universidad de Siena -UNISI-, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla -BUAP-, Ilumno -ILUMNO-, University of Bordeaux (U-BORDEAUX), Universidad de Antioquia (UDEA), Corporación Universitaria Unitec and Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, general coordinator of the project in Latin America.

Thanks to the management of the Technical Labor Group, support for this observatory was included in the Lima Declaration of December 2019 under this guideline: establish a working group with the Coordinators of the Project “Observatory for Labor Market Insertion and Strengthening Employability in Pacific Alliance countries EMPLE-AP”.

August 5, 2021.- As part of the schedule of activities that has been jointly designed between the countries of the Pacific Alliance, during the pro tempore presidency of Colombia, the Ambassadors of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru participated in the television program ‘Talk with World Leaders’ of the Phoenix TV network, in order to publicize this regional integration mechanism in China, an observer country and strategic partner. Within this framework, they presented the commercial opportunities and synergies between the countries of the bloc to continue consolidating their product offerings and the strengths of their economies to penetrate this market and jointly face common challenges.

The Pacific Alliance is the eighth largest economic power and the eighth largest exporter in the world. The four countries concentrate a population of 230 million people and offer competitive advantages for international business, with a clear orientation towards the Asia-Pacific region, with China as a priority market, with whom, in recent years, thanks to the power of integration, there has been a constant and progressive growth in commercial exchanges.

The television program ‘Talk With World Leaders’ of the Phoenix TV network has an audience reach of 500 million viewers in different broadcast channels worldwide, particularly in China, Europe and the United States. The Pacific Alliance broadcast will be divided into two episodes, the second of which will air this Friday, August 6 at 10 p.m. China time and can be viewed on the website www.ifeng.com. The first episode had an active audience of 41 million people across all media.

This show is conducted by renowned host and producer, Fu Xiaotian. Some of the personalities who have been guests on her program include the 8˚ Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, the then Director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, the former Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe and the Secretary of State of the United States, John Kerry.

To relive the broadcast visit:
https://v.ifeng.com/c/88IXPtdseEr
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu8HSaKl1Xc

PACIFIC ALLIANCE PPT COMMUNICATIONS

AP/ 21^st of July of 2021. The Pacific Alliance (PA) and Singapore have concluded negotiations of the Pacific Alliance-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (PASFTA). This was welcomed by the Ministers of Trade of Colombia Ms. Maria Ximena Lombana, of Peru Ms. Claudia Cornejo, of Mexico Ms. Tatiana Clouthier and Mr. Andres Allamand the Minister of Foreign Relations of Chile as members of the PA and Mr. Gan Kim Yong Minister for Trade and Industry of Singapore via a videoconference on July 21st.

Maria Ximena Lombana, Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism for Colombia, in her capacity of Pro Tempore President of the PA announced the closing of negotiations of the PASFTA and highlighted the strengthen of our commercial partnership ties with Singapore.

“This FTA marked a milestone for the PA as the biggest step in our integration with the Asia Pacific Region which allow us to grant Singapore the status as the first Associated State to the PA. In 2017, the Pacific Alliance launched negotiations with Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, which are Candidates to be Associated States to develop instruments for economic and commercial integration, stressing our commitment to effectively insert ourselves in the Asia Pacific Region.”

“With this new Agreement between Singapore and the Pacific Alliance we are fulfilling this vision path improving the commercial relationship, attracting investments, expanding market access of goods, and boosting access for service suppliers in a wide range of sectors. Reaching Singapore’s market allows using regional inputs from different countries enhancing productive regional chains. We expect to attract Singaporean investors to the Pacific Alliance’s extended market as a productive and export platform to the region.”

“The Alliance perceives that being an Associated State is as mechanism that promotes free trade agreements and provides windows of opportunities for cooperation. This instrument will enable to explore areas for collaboration on technology and digital economy that may include the linking of SG’s national Single Window with the PA’s, port management and logistics, infrastructure and urban solutions, energy collaboration and food trade. Additionally, Singapore suggested the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) as other initiative which we may explore with the PA states, recognizing that it may bring tangible benefits for all the countries involved.”

“The Pacific Alliance is in alignment with Singapore’s idea on free trade agreements, which will bring growth and ensure long-term sustainable economic development, and will also boost our commercial and economic relationship.”

Mr. Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Trade and Industry for Singapore said that, “Singapore is honoured to be joining the Pacific Alliance in announcing the conclusion of the Pacific Alliance-Singapore Free Trade Agreement. The PASFTA establishes a modern, comprehensive, high-quality, and mutually beneficial economic partnership that builds on existing agreements between the Pacific Alliance and Singapore. This agreement complements Singapore’s existing bilateral and plurilateral links with each Pacific Alliance country, including the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement, Peru-Singapore FTA, and, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. It is significant that the PASFTA will be our first FTA with Colombia.”

“The PASFTA represents the shared commitment by the Pacific Alliance and Singapore to persevere with greater economic integration and support the rules based multilateral trading system. It sends a powerful message to the global community that our countries remain open for business, and despite the pressures placed on economic multilateralism, we want to reach out to one another and create more opportunities for our people. We want to build on this foundation, grow our links even more, and generate opportunities for our people and businesses.”

“We agree with the Pacific Alliance that the Associated Status provides a platform for collaboration in various areas such as energy collaboration, food trade, digital economy, infrastructure and urban solutions, port management and logistics, and the linking of National Single Windows.”

The Pacific Alliance comprises of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. Collectively, it has a combined population of 230 million, a per capita GDP of 19 thousand US dollars and exports that reach 627 US billion dollars, making the Alliance the 8th largest exporter in the world. In 2019, Singapore’s total trade in goods with the Pacific Alliance was S$6.1 billion, which accounted for 33.2% of our total trade in goods with Latin America.

The PA is also positioned us as the 8th largest economy, attracting 56 million tourists, representing 41% of Latin America and the Caribbean GDP and accounting for 38% of its foreign direct investment. Additionally, both, the World Competitiveness Centre and the Doing Business rank our countries as the most competitive in the region.

Singapore became an Observer State to the Pacific Alliance in 2014, and a Candidate Associated State in 2017. This event complies with mandate from the presidential statement of the PA´s Presidents and the Prime Minister of Singapore at Santiago’s Summit last December.

Singapore and the Pacific Alliance will work towards a formal signing during the Pacific Alliance Summit in December in 2021, in Colombia. Singapore will become the first Associate State of the Pacific Alliance upon signing of the PASFTA. The Pacific Alliance and Singapore look forward to using this platform to catalyse closer people-to-people ties, and further economic cooperation in areas of mutual interest such as infrastructure, digital and innovation, energy, and food trade.

July 19, 2021 – The Free Trade Commission of the Pacific Alliance (Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru), in which the Vice Ministers of Trade of the 4 countries participated, signed today an agreement (Decision number 12) that eliminates the technical obstacles to the commercialization of medical devices within the mechanism.

In other words, the same requirements were defined in the 4 markets for the commercialization of this type of goods, in terms of good manufacturing practices, certificates of free sale, sanitary registrations, labeling and conditions of sale that must be complied with in the trade of this type of goods. With the signing of this agreement, the countries assume the commitment to initiate the corresponding internal regulatory modifications.

This harmonization not only has a positive impact on the trade facilitation strategy in the Pacific Alliance and boosts trade within the bloc, but also becomes another mechanism that will help the safe economic reactivation of the countries.

With this, regulatory harmonization is now complete for 4 sectors: cosmetics, food supplements, household cleaning and now medical devices.

Trade in this type of products within the Pacific Alliance represents more than US$47 million.

PACIFIC ALLIANCE PPT COMMUNICATIONS

The Pacific Alliance and the European Union held a series of cooperation workshops on digital economy and society between June 15 and 17, 2021. There, they addressed topics such as the digitization of public services and digital identity and electronic signature; sustainable, secure and efficient digital infrastructures, especially in relation to 5G and cybersecurity, as well as the digital transformation of companies and public services.

The workshops were attended by more than 60 public officials from Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, in charge of implementing the Regional Digital Market Roadmap. There, both European and Pacific Alliance countries’ experiences in terms of public policies, regulatory frameworks and initiatives, among others, were shared.

As a result of these workshops, it was agreed to hold technical meetings related to the use of electronic signatures, interest was expressed in the exchange of best practices and experiences in the area of 5G and possible cooperation in the area of personal data protection.

In September 2019, the Joint Declaration of the European Union (EU) and the Pacific Alliance (PA) established a framework for cooperation between the two blocs.

July 13, 2021.- 36 English language teachers and government officials from Pacific Alliance countries graduated from the New Zealand Global Competence Certificate + Teacher Training course, an initiative of Education New Zealand and the Pacific Alliance English Network (RIAP, by its acronym in Spanish).

The Global Competence Certificate or GCC, created by AFS Intercultural Programs and facilitated by Massey University, aims to help students become more aware of how culture influences human interactions. Likewise, it empowers students and teachers with tangible skills fundamental to building just and peaceful societies.

“This celebration today is first and foremost yours but it is also a milestone for New Zealand because it reaffirms the commitment we have to the Pacific Alliance. We are pleased to continue to build and strengthen this relationship in various areas, including the creation of educational and people-to-people links,” said Linda Te Puni, New Zealand Ambassador to Chile and Peru.

The course, led by professors from Massey University, lasted six weeks. During that period, there were two weeks of training sessions, in which teachers were able to put their new intercultural understanding and communication skills into practice in their classes and in their own engagements with their students.

“The promotion of the English language allows our nationals to expand access to educational, scientific, technological and labor opportunities, while contributing to the formation of a more productive human capital and the insertion of our economies in international markets, with a view to strengthening our competitiveness in global arenas,” said Adela Maestre, Director of Regional Concertation and Integration Mechanisms of the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and National Coordinator of Colombia for the Pacific Alliance.

The Pacific Alliance English Network (RIAP) aims to develop a cooperation strategy to improve this language in the bloc, a task in which it has been supported by New Zealand as an observer country.

“We are honored and privileged to participate in this teacher training initiative. Equally, we are proud of the passion and dedication that each one demonstrated throughout the course. We saw how they invested their time and energy in developing the global and tangible skills essential now more than ever to live, work and make a real social impact in their classrooms, communities and around the world,” said Chris Carey, Executive Director of Global Engagement at Massey University.