December 26, 2022.- “Opportunities and challenges in language education outside the urban context” was the name of the discussion organized by the English Network of the Pacific Alliance (RIAP in Spanish), which had more than 50 participants. This event was attended by authorities from the education sector of the four member states (Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru) and Dr. Jennifer Macdonald, Director of English Language Studies and University Access at Dalhousie University in Canada.

The conversation focused on English language teaching methodologies, specifically on the Content and Language Integrated Learning methodology, also known as CLIL or Content and Foreign Language Integrated Learning. Likewise, the implementation and use of technologies in linguistic education outside the urban context was addressed, where some virtual exchange dynamics were reviewed, as well as existing barriers.

Those present participated actively in the development of the conversation. Afterwards, they worked in groups on questions previously proposed by the Canadian expert. The Technical Education Group thanked Dr. Macdonald for organizing the meeting and for the participation of both Dr. Macdonald and Canada as an Observer State of the Pacific Alliance. Finally, the RIAP Technical Secretariat called for dissemination of the Network in order to jointly strengthen it among the Member States and Observers. The Technical Secretariat of the RIAP is in charge of Chile until December 2023.

December 20, 2022.- Hungary offers high-quality education with a safe and friendly living environment in the heart of Europe. Hungary is also among the top countries with the highest number of scientific Nobel laureates per capita and numerous scientific inventions, from vitamin C to the Rubik’s cube.

Therefore, we are pleased to present the 2023/2024 call for the Hungarian Government scholarship program within the framework of the Pacific Alliance. Eight scholarships will be awarded, two for each member country, to carry out studies in this country. The call will be open until January 16, 2023.

The Student and Academic Mobility Platform of the Pacific Alliance, which purpose is to contribute to the formation of human capital in the four countries, offers the possibility of carrying out bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral studies or non-graduate programs (preparation and specialization courses) on issues related to agriculture, land management, wildlife, among other related issues.

The studies will be carried out in person at one of the 28 Higher Education Institutions that participate in the Hungarian Stipendium Hungaricum Program. The minimum required documents must be entered into the online system set up by the Hungarian government no later than January 16 at 23:59 (Central European Time).

The call for applications and the annexes can be found on the official page: https://stipendiumhungaricum.hu/apply/

The online application system can be accessed here: https://apply.stipendiumhungaricum.hu/

The Application guide for candidates can be found on the following website:

https://stipendiumhungaricum.hu/uploads/2020/03/Application-Guide-for-the-Stipendium-Hungaricum-Programme_2023_24.pdf

The scholarships include academic costs, lodging, medical insurance; in addition, a monthly maintenance in Hungarian national currency will be granted. It is important to clarify that the scholarship does not include tickets to and from the countries of origin of the selected people, who must cover their international air ticket.

CHECK HERE FOR THE BASES OF THE CALL

• Teachers and principals of elementary or primary education will meet in this activity that aims to open a space for insight and conversation around the thematic axes of the nine free courses that the PA Digital Teaching Network—initiative of the Pacific Alliance—, made available this year to strengthen teachers’ digital skills.

December 14, 2022.- In 2022, more than 3,000 teachers and principals from Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru joined the PA Digital Teaching Network, an initiative of the Pacific Alliance implemented by Fundación Chile, which was born to generate capacities of pedagogical use in digital technological tools, in view of the educational needs that were exacerbated by the pandemic.

During this period, the initiative has made available nine free, 100% online self-learning courses of high quality, which are grouped into three thematic axes: “Technology-mediated pedagogical practices”; “Education for the Digital Citizenship of the XXI Century” and “Use and management of digital tools”.

In order for the teachers and principals members of the PA Digital Teaching Network to delve into the aforementioned thematic axes and meet colleagues with similar interests, on Tuesday, December 20, this professional development platform will carry out its last activity of the year.

This is the “Virtual meeting: forging teaching networks for the Pacific Alliance”, which is aimed at teachers, professors and managers who have taken courses from the PA Digital Teaching Network. To participate in this activity, which has limited spaces, you must register on the platform and then enter the following link to enter the email to which the meeting access link will be sent.

Leading teachers

The opening of the meeting will take place at 9:00 a.m. in Mexico; 10:00 hours from Colombia and Peru; and 12:00 Chilean hours. Afterwards, it will lead to the simultaneous thematic rooms. Room 1 will be led by Alberto Ramírez (Mexico), a researcher at the Universidad Veracruzana, Doctor in Educational Research and Master’s degree in Computer Science and Communication Media. Room 2 will be headed by Viviana Cano (Colombia), Sociologist and Master in Science, Technology and Education Management.

The teachers who are part of the PA Digital Teaching Network will also have a leading role, given that in each room there will be a panel with representatives of the member countries of the Pacific Alliance. Thus, in panel 1, Romina Jara, teacher of Biology and Natural Sciences at the Santa María de la Ligua School (Chile), will be present, while in panel 2, Juan Manuel Gómez, teacher at the Eusebio Septimio Mari Technical Ethno-educational Institution (Colombia)will be present.

To learn more about the program, access the event registration page: https://bit.ly/3FM6H3Y

December 13, 2022.- On December 12, 2022, the Mexican Ambassador to Poland, Juan Sandoval Mendiolea, inaugurated the concert “Beyond an Alliance”, organized in collaboration with the Embassies of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru in Poland.

Within the framework of Mexico’s pro tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance, the concert was held in the Kotlownia Hall of the Polish Vodka Museum in Warsaw, with the participation of the Mexican soprano Alejandrina Vázquez and the Polish pianist Adam Mikołaj Goździewski , who performed songs from the four member countries of the Alliance.

During the inauguration, the importance of promoting actions that allow positioning the Pacific Alliance as a vanguard mechanism with concrete results and the need to create a deep integration area that promotes greater growth, development and competitiveness of the economies that integrate it was highlighted.

Among the more than 80 attendees at the event, the presence of the Vice-President of the Polish Senate, Gabriela Morawska-Stanecka, as well as members of the diplomatic corps, representatives of the Senate, and Polish ministries and economic and cultural institutions stood out.

At the end of the event, a tasting of typical dishes from the four countries of the Pacific Alliance was offered.

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December 9, 2022.- The embassies of the member countries of the Pacific Alliance accredited in Austria held the “Pacific Alliance Business Forum”, organized jointly with the Austrian Federal Chamber of Economics (WKÖ), in Vienna.

The different segments were attended by important members of the Austrian, Slovak and Slovenian business community, as well as the Vice President of the WKO, Amelie Groß.

On behalf of the four countries of the Alliance participated María Claudia Alvarado, director of ProColombia in Germany; Gycs Gordon, director of the Commercial Office of Peru in Hamburg; Marcelo Villagrán, coordinator of the Chilean Strategy for Europe in the Green Hydrogen Sector. ProChile; and Mario Chacón, coordinator of Investment Promotion for Europe of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico.

In the round table participated eight Austrian, four Slovenian and one Slovakian companies, all from various industrial sectors. Also attended the four ambassadors in Austria of the PA countries and members of their teams. The presentations of the 4 panelists focused on the strengths and advantages of their economies and business environments, and the complementarity of markets that the regional bloc offers as a destination for investments and to integrate value chains.

The seminar registered an audience of more than one hundred people, including businessmen, academics, and the media. Likewise, it was attended by the ambassador of Ecuador in Austria, Mireya Muñoz Mera, and the ambassador of Costa Rica in Austria, Alejandro Solano Ortíz, as representatives of countries with a special close relationship with the PA.

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Since August, 61 young volunteers from different regions of Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru began the training process in several components that strengthened their skills and abilities for volunteering, social action, leadership, international solidarity, and above all, multifunctional monitoring and activation of older people, with or without visual limitations, thus making profitable use of Information and Communication Technologies to reach all corners where the beneficiaries of the program reside.

From Mexico, we have volunteers from Puebla, Jalisco, Hidalgo, Queretaro, and Mexico City; from Chile, volunteers from Temuco, La Araucanía Region, and Santiago de Chile; the volunteers from Peru (the majority of the program) are from Junín, Cajamarca, Callao, Rímac, Sachaca, Huacho, Lima, Chiclayo, and Cusco; also, from Colombia, a broad representation of volunteers from Sucre, Bolivar, Chocó, Atlántico, Antioquia, and Bogotá.

The training process, led by Human Bonds by Versania (now known as Versania Care and Life), included more than 100 hours of intensive training led by experts that involve a deep and emotionally charged understanding of the work of the volunteers to reduce the social gaps in the region; they addressed different dimensions of volunteering, their purpose, the sense and meaning of this action in social transformation, international solidarity, philanthropy and a broad and detailed vision of the challenges we face as a 21st-century society; in addition, the volunteers had complete training on the reality of the elderly in Colombia, the psychology of the elderly, bases for accompaniment, sensitive listening, and the physical, cognitive and occupational activation of the elderly with or without visual limitation. The training process ended on November 16.

Since October 24, with the support of Colpensiones, the UAEOS and the Presidential Council for Youth, the process of accompaniment began for 61 older people from all over Colombia, with or without visual limitations, who were sent to a multifunctional activation analog kit at home to be implemented together with the young volunteers in the distance. This kit was designed by the nursing and neuropsychology team at Human Bonds by Versania and also includes a whole package of activities in digital format that older people will be able to access and continue implementing after the program ends.

• On November 24, 2022, the XXVIII Meeting of Finance Ministers of the Pacific Alliance was held, with the in-person participation of the Undersecretary of Finance of Chile, Ms. Claudia Sanhueza Riveros, of the Undersecretary of Finance and Public Credit of Mexico Mr. Gabriel Yorio González and the Vice Minister of Economy of Peru, Mr. Alex Contreras Miranda; and virtually the Technical Vice Minister of Colombia, Mr. Gonzalo Hernández Jiménez. The meeting was chaired by Undersecretary Yorio, by virtue of the fact that Mexico holds the pro tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance.

November 25, 2022.- The Finance Ministers of the Pacific Alliance (PA) met in a hybrid mode on November 24 in Mexico City, to celebrate the XXVIII Meeting of Finance Ministers of the PA.

The ministerial meeting began with a space for dialogue on the economic challenges that face the PA region, derived from the current economic and geopolitical context. The ministers made remarks on the impacts of inflationary pressures and the economic slowdown in some countries. Additionally, they highlighted the importance of maintaining a balance between a framework of fiscal responsibility and meeting the needs of the population, through the use of all available public policy tools.

Afterwards, Mexico presented the results achieved under its pro tempore presidency of the PA. The Council of Finance Ministers (CFM) made great progress in terms of: i) financial integration, ii) finance and sustainable development, iii) investment in infrastructure, iv) innovation and financial digitization, v) management of catastrophic risks, vi) tax treatment, and vii) cybersecurity.

Among the main results to be highlighted are: i) the development of Common Principles to promote the sustainability of the bloc’s financial systems, which will serve as a common reference to promote sustainable investment and build an increasingly resilient and inclusive region, in accordance with the respective national frameworks and contexts; ii) the creation of a training program for officials of PA member countries in the integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria in the operation of financial systems; iii) the development of the rules of operation and organization of an online platform for the PA Financial Innovation Hub, which will allow the construction of a space for dialogue and consultation between innovators and the regulatory and supervisory agencies of the PA countries ; and iv) the design of the Catastrophic Risk Coverage Program, a mechanism that will facilitate the joint contracting of risk transfer schemes among the member countries of the PA.

On the other hand, Peru announced the mandates that will govern the CFM work plan for the following year. In this sense, its agenda will focus, among others, on the promotion of financial inclusion, the evaluation of climate financing mechanisms, the fight against tax avoidance and evasion, the mobilization of resources for emergency care in the event of natural disasters, as well as the strengthening of the Council’s institutionalism, including coordination with the other instances of the Pacific Alliance and the improvement of the dissemination of results.

Finally, the ministers thanked the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) for its commitment to the Pacific Alliance, in its role as Technical Secretariat of the CFM, and technical ally for the development and implementation of initiatives aimed at strengthening the process of financial and economic integration of the member countries of this regional integration mechanism.

November 24, 2022.- The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, along with the Undersecretary of Foreign Trade, Alejandro Encinas Nájera, led the meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Pacific Alliance (PA) today, with the participation of the Vice Minister of International Economic Relations of Chile, José Miguel Ahumada Franco; for Colombia, the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Germán Umaña Mendoza, and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Laura Gil Savastano; and for Peru, the Minister of Foreign Relations, César Landa Arroyo, and the Vice Minister of Foreign Trade, Miguel Julian Palomino, who endorsed the presentation of the following declarations:

• Declaration of Mexico City
• Declaration of the Pacific Alliance for the Protection of the Environment and adaptation to Climate Change
• Declaration for Gender Parity in the Pacific Alliance
• Declaration of the Pacific Alliance on MSMEs and Entrepreneurship
• Declaration of the Pacific Alliance about Youth
• Declaration for Well-being, Development and Social Inclusion in the Pacific Alliance

Likewise, the Council of Ministers signed decision 13, “Guidelines on the Relationship between the Pacific Alliance and Associated States”, and decision 14, “Work Plan 2023 of the Pacific Alliance Cooperation Fund”.

Subsequently, the Council of Ministers and the Council of Finance Ministers, in addition to sharing the progress achieved this year, received high-ranking authorities from Costa Rica and Honduras, who have expressed their intention to join the PA as full members; from Canada and Korea as Associate States candidates, and from Singapore as the next first Associate State of the mechanism.

The host and Minister of Mexico, Marcelo Ebrard, pointed out that these meetings are a sign of the commitment of our countries to forge a more social regional integration; recognized the importance of continuing to promote the gender issue transversally within the PA; highlighted the progress achieved regarding the candidates for Associate States; he emphasized the interest of all the member countries and those invited to work under one roof and, finally, he indicated that the XVII Summit of the Pacific Alliance will take place in Peru on a date determined by the four heads of state.

He also assured that “the Alliance works. Alliances that do not work, do not have applications for membership, and today almost the entire session was to listen to the countries that want to be part of our Alliance”.

“What we are seeing here is an exercise of cooperation and addition, there are not many. This is good news, whether or not they participate in the Pacific Alliance, because it speaks of the potential of cooperation, multilateral instruments and understanding between nations. So, they have asked me to transmit it to them because this was mentioned throughout the meeting”, pointed out Minister Ebrard.

For his part, the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism of Colombia, Germán Umaña Mendoza, said that “only with social cohesion and inclusion, growth is warranted, because it is development and it is sustainability.” Sharing these values ​​today in the Pacific Alliance “is a privilege for my country, which is undergoing a profound transformation process, and for Latin America, which is responding in a really intelligent way to the serious difficulties we have experienced in recent years,” he said.

During her speech, the Vice Minister of Multilateral Affairs of the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Laura Gil Savastano, thanked Mexico for its leadership and above all for emphasizing the social sphere. She expressed Colombia’s commitment to total peace and regional integration.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru, César Landa Arroyo, highlighted that “assuming the pro tempore presidency with Mexico leaving such a high bar, commits us to deepen this social agenda that has already been defined.”

Likewise, he assured that “this interest has to be reflected in a tangible way for the benefit of citizens, and in particular with the accompaniment of sister countries that are in the process of integration and that this process should be completed in the pro tempore presidency.”

He also expressed his faith and hope to face a troubled time that our region and the world are going through, “it is continental and transcontinental unity, including Asia-Pacific countries, which will guarantee being able to solve in a much more integrated way, sharing experiences and also overcoming the differences that may exist for the sake of a common good, not only universal but also regional and local for the benefit of our populations, for this reason, we will reinforce the Pacific Alliance process”, he concluded.

The delegation of Peru, as the next pro tempore presidency, ratified its commitment to maintain the Pacific Alliance as an agile and regional mechanism; encourage all instances to work in coordination to promote the work agenda; support the processes of incorporation of Costa Rica, Ecuador and Honduras to the Alliance; strengthen relations with Observer States and promote cooperation projects that generate greater integration within the Alliance.

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