October 18, 2023.- The High Level Group (GAN) of the Pacific Alliance (PA), which brings together deputy ministers of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, as well as their representatives, from Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, met on Wednesday, October 18, 2023 in Lima.
The high authorities reviewed the status of the processes with the candidates for Associate States and the accession of new full members of the integration mechanism.
The GAN also reviewed the preparations for the following events: (i) II Meeting of PA Exporting SME, to be held on November 9 in Lima with a view to benefiting MSMEs of the four countries; (ii) V PA Cooperation Forum with Observer States, and (iii) the next meeting of PA National Coordinators with the Permanent Representatives Committee of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ANSEA), to advance joint activities and exchanges on topics of common interest.
The authorities also received representatives of the Pacific Alliance Business Council (CEAP), made up of the private sector of the four countries, to learn about their initiatives and recommendations. Representatives of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a strategic partner of the PA, also attended the virtual meeting to follow up on the valuable technical-financial support of this institution in the development of topics such as innovation, environment, gender, among others.
The meeting was attended by Ignacio Higueras, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Teresa Mera, Vice Minister of Foreign Trade, for Peru, which currently holds the pro tempore presidency of the mechanism; for Chile, Marcela Otero, Director General for Multilateral Economic Affairs, representing the Undersecretary for International Economic Relations, Claudia Sanhueza; for Colombia, Luis Felipe Quintero, Vice Minister of Foreign Trade, and Ambassador Javier Higuera, Director of Regional Coordination and Integration Mechanisms, on behalf of the Vice Minister of Multilateral Affairs, Elizabeth Taylor Jay, and for Mexico, Vicente Peredo, head of the International Trade Negotiations Unit of the Ministry of Economy, and Gerardo Serrano, director for Regional Integration in Latin
America and the Caribbean of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
VIII Pacific Alliance Youth Meeting
In the morning, the GAN authorities attended the inauguration of the “VIII Pacific Alliance Youth Meeting”, an event organized by Nestlé, which brings together young people from the PA, together with the private sector, the public sector and academia, in order to promote youth employability in the region. The meeting was attended by young people from Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru representing the PA countries, and from Ecuador and Costa Rica as special guests.
It should be noted that at the end of September, the International Job Fair was also held virtually, where 102 companies offered 4,500 job opportunities.
