Within the framework of the Meeting of the High Level Group of the Pacific Alliance, held on June 23, 2022, in Santiago de Chile, the beginning of the negotiation process was announced to reach a Free Trade Agreement between the Pacific Alliance and South Korea, which will allow this Asian country to become an Associated State of the Pacific Alliance, once the trade agreement between the parties enters into force.

With this, the countries of the Pacific Alliance reaffirmed the commitment established in the Declaration of Bahía Málaga, to start this process during the first half of this year. In this regard, the Vice Ministers of the Pacific Alliance and the Korean Chief Negotiator instructed their teams to begin work, in accordance with the Terms of Reference agreed for that purpose.

The trade agreement between the countries of the Pacific Alliance and South Korea will further deepen and strengthen the current trade relationship between the five countries, seeking mutual benefit and the development of their inhabitants.

South Korea is among the main trading partners of the countries of the Pacific Alliance and has been an Observer State since 2014. Korea expressed its intention to begin the process to obtain the status of Associated State of the Pacific Alliance in 2018 and it was stipulated in the Declaration of Puerto Vallarta. For the Pacific Alliance, starting this negotiation process will allow it to advance in its objective of becoming a platform for economic and commercial integration with a projection towards the Asia-Pacific region.

• The initiative, which is initially carried out through the Undersecretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture (Subpesca) of the Government of Chile, will allow the creation of an information center.

October 12, 2022.- The countries of the Pacific Alliance, through the Government of Chile’s Undersecretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture (Subpesca) are currently advancing in the creation of a Network of Women in Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Pacific Alliance that makes visible the role of women from Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, in these activities.

Initially, it seeks to establish an information center to provide news and novelties to registered women, on the advances and activities in the field of fishing and aquaculture with a gender focus and equality.

The registration period expires on October 24, 2022 and can be done at the following link: https://bit.ly/3fRdHC4

It is important to note that the Pacific Alliance is an economic and development initiative between four Latin American nations: Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

Since her creation to date, the Alliance has become the axis of a new way of doing business on the continent. The PA is a mechanism for political and economic cooperation and integration that seeks to find a space to promote greater growth and greater competitiveness of the four economies that comprise it.

The Tecnológico de Monterrey, Creditex S.A.A. and the Pacific Alliance invite Science and Technology Startups of the Pacific Alliance, which have solutions to reduce the carbon footprint and reduce energy consumption in manufacturing processes, to participate in the Open Call “Innovation Challenges for Sustainable Manufacturing”.

The open call aims to identify startups that have technological solutions and can develop a Minimum Viable Product (products or services, including technological integration) in 3 months to reduce the carbon footprint and reduce energy consumption in manufacturing processes. The goal is to implement the solution under an open innovation model with the participation of the startup, IAMSM researchers, and Creditex.

The open call is open to startups that can solve one of the following challenges:

Solutions for the reduction of energy consumption in electrical equipment.

Reduction of steam consumption in industrial plants.

Real-time energy consumption monitoring systems.

• For more information, please visit: https://ieegl.brightidea.com/ConvocatoriaRetoManufacturaAP/
• Project registration: https://bit.ly/RegistroRetoManufactura
• Effective Date: March 13th to 24th, 2023 (23:59 hrs. Central Mexico time)
• Questions and information: delfina_gb@tec.mx

This program is coordinated by the TransferenciAP Network and the Science, Technology, and Innovation Technical Group of the Pacific Alliance.

The Tecnológico de Monterrey, the company Agrosuper S.A. and the Pacific Alliance invite Science and Technology Startups from the Pacific Alliance that have solutions for water scarcity and efficiency in animal breeding processes and processing plants to participate in the Open Call “Innovation Challenges for Sustainable Agriculture”.

The open call aims to identify startups that have technological solutions and can develop a Minimum Viable Product in 3 months to solve water scarcity and efficiency in animal breeding processes and processing plants. The goal is to implement the solution under an open innovation model with the participation of the startup, researchers from the Water Center for Latin America and the Caribbean (CAALCA) of the Tecnológico de Monterrey and the Chilean company Agrosuper S.A.

The open call seeks a solution to the following challenges:

Recovery/reuse of process water with the goal of having a closed water cycle.

Products/processes to decrease water consumption involved in process plant cleaning.

Water treatment solutions.

Technologies aimed at energy efficiency in refrigeration and freezing systems in industrial plants.

• For more information, please visit: https://ieegl.brightidea.com/ConvocatoriaRetoAgriculturaAP
• Project registration: https://bit.ly/RegistroRetoAgricultura
• Effective Date: March 10th to 24th, 2023 (23:59 hrs. Central Mexico time)
• Questions and information: delfina_gb@tec.mx

This program is coordinated by the TransferenciAP Network and the Science, Technology and Innovation Technical Group of the Pacific Alliance.

May 5, 2023.- On May 4 and 5, 2023, in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Intersectoral Workshop “Towards a greater articulation between education and work in the Americas” was held, organized in hybrid format by the Inter-American Network for Labor Administration of the OAS, under the auspices of the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security and the Ministry of Education of Argentina.

The event, which is part of the 2022-2024 Work Plan of the Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labor (CIMT) and the 2022-2025 Work Plan of the Inter-American Commission on Education (CIE), brought together representatives of Ministries of Labor and Ministries of Education of the Americas, representatives of workers and employers, and international organizations.

The workshop allowed for the exchange of lessons learned and policy recommendations to achieve a better articulation between the Ministries of Labor and Ministries of Education of the Americas and the development of national qualifications frameworks, as well as laying the foundations to move towards a regional framework of qualifications.

During the meeting, the Department of Human Development, Education and Employment of the OAS, through the Inter-American Network for Labor Administration, highlighted the progress of the Technical Labor Group (GTL) of the Pacific Alliance in terms of recognition and homologation of labor competencies and their articulation with the Regional Qualifications Framework, which is also being developed by the Technical Education Group (GTE) of the integration mechanism.

The coordinator of the Network of Experts in Certification of the Pacific Alliance, Igor Dedic, from Chile, made a presentation of the progress in the preparation of a pilot of the operating system for the recognition and homologation of labor competency certifications in the countries of the Pacific Alliance, which incorporates standards and profiles from the construction, tourism, marketing, hotel, gastronomy and personal care sectors. It is a presidential mandate adopted on December 11, 2020 during the Santiago Summit under the pro tempore presidency of Chile.

The event to be held in Chile will feature three major events: a food innovation bootcamp, the largest international virtual job fair in the region and will culminate with the Youth Meeting that will take place on October 23 in Santiago de Chile, which will bring together a thousand people in person.

May 23, 2024.- With the participation of the Undersecretary of International Economic Relations of Chile, Claudia Sanhueza, representing the current pro tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance, and the CEO of Nestlé Chile, Rodrigo Camacho, the ninth Pacific Alliance Youth Meeting was kicked off. The event, which will be held this year in Chile in conjunction with the Swiss company, annually brings together young people between the ages of 18 and 29, as well as the public and private sectors of the countries that make up the bloc, to discuss the challenges facing youth employability.

“During our pro tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance we want to link the PA with citizenship and one of the axes is youth. In this context, the promotion of solutions to the problem of youth employment in the region is also an urgent part of our work, so this Youth Meeting is an iconic event to address this common challenge among member countries. It is also time to consolidate the bloc with a sustainable, inclusive and productive approach, focused on the environment, MSMEs, investments and global value chains, linking us more strongly with citizens”, said Undersecretary Sanhueza.

The moments that will mark this version of the Pacific Alliance Youth Meeting are: the Food Innovation Bootcamp -an online event organized by the Innovation Center of the Catholic University, where interregional teams of young people will face challenges and propose innovative solutions-; the Virtual Employability Fair -the largest in Latin America, which expects to offer 5000 job and training vacancies- and the development of the Meeting, to be held on Wednesday, October 23, 2024.

COMMUNICATIONS PPT CHILE 2024

Organized by the Subgroup on Responsible Business Conduct of the Pacific Alliance, the meeting was also attended by professionals from the OECD, the ILO and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as representatives from the NCP of Norway.

February 28, 2025.- Between February 25 and 27, the meeting “Involvement of the National Contact Point (NCP) with its stakeholders and strengthening as a non-judicial mechanism for conflict resolution” was held in Mexico City, Mexico, organized by the Subgroup on Responsible Business Conduct (SGCER) of the Pacific Alliance (PA), in a hybrid form, under the coordination of Chile.

The meeting included outreach and awareness-raising sessions with the business and public sectors, bringing together more than 80 people, which made it possible to explore opportunities for involvement and collaborative work between these groups and the NCP. Participants also included professionals from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in addition to the representation of the NCP of Norway.

At the opening of the event, the head of the Global Economic Intelligence Unit of the Mexican Ministry of Economy, Ismael Ortiz Fernandez, pointed out that the adoption of responsible business practices is key in the challenging context faced, especially on environmental and social issues, emphasizing that doing so contributes to gaining the trust of stakeholders, generates loyalty and also attracts talent.

On behalf of the OECD, Germán Zarama, manager for Latin America of the CER Center, highlighted the good work done by the Subgroup, noting that its drive has served to advance this agenda at the regional level and serve as an incentive for other integration blocs. He stressed the importance of the subgroup’s work to support companies in integrating these expectations into their businesses, given that today they are facing increasing regulatory requirements in these matters.

The outgoing SGCER coordinator, Vanessa Maynou, from the Chilean Undersecretariat of International Economic Relations and NCP, highlighted the importance and opportunity of the NCP’s involvement with its stakeholders, including companies and the public sector, to jointly collaborate in amplifying the dissemination and implementation of CER standards.

The opening was also addressed by the chair of the OECD Working Group on Responsible Business Conduct, Christine Kaufmann, who emphasized that the work of the subgroup is the first initiative of its kind in a regional integration bloc. She took the opportunity to announce that the European Commission approved the Omnibus Project on sustainable finance reporting, sustainability due diligence and taxonomy. She also stressed the importance for the Pacific Alliance of integrating these standards into the trade bloc, encouraging companies to work together with the NCPs.

The varied exchanges and presentations gave way to a reflective dialogue that allowed the NCPs to identify lessons learned, good practices and possibilities for improvement, in addition to communicating recent or planned changes that reflect the recommendations of the meeting held in Bogota-Colombia in August 2024. The lessons learned and main conclusions of the meeting were included in the Mexico 2025 Exit Document.

Meeting with the public and business sectors

In order to improve the operation and broaden the impact of the NCP’s work, spaces were provided for awareness-raising and involvement with public agencies and companies located in Mexico.

Important elements on CER, due diligence and the NCPs were shared with both groups. In addition, at the meeting with companies, the OECD presented sustainability initiatives and due diligence, and then referred to the CER Project in Latin America and the Caribbean (CERALC), together with colleagues from the ILO and the OHCHR, which jointly implement the project financed by the European Union, urging them to participate in activities to support companies.

At the meeting with the public sector, the OECD spoke about the role of the State with the CER and policy coherence, giving rise to an instance of reflection and conversation on the possibilities of collaboration and coordination between this sector and the NCP, in order to ensure and facilitate the coherence of public policies in these matters.

This meeting marks the milestone of the completion of Chile’s coordination of the SGCER-AP, giving way to the incoming coordination by Colombia.

Communications PPT 2024 Pacific Alliance