August 18, 2022.- On August 16 the National Coordinators of the Pacific Alliance held a virtual meeting with the Committee of Permanent Representatives to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN in order to review the implementation of the AP-ASEAN Work Plan (2021-2025), whose adoption in 2021 aims to continue strengthening the bonds of friendship and cooperation between both mechanisms. This plan is focused on the following areas: economic cooperation; in matters of education and culture; science, technology and innovation, as well as smart cities and connectivity; environment and sustainable development, and post-pandemic recovery.

As part of the meeting, the possible realization of the VII AP-ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in the framework of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly was assessed and the upcoming IV Cooperation Forum of the Pacific Alliance was announced for August 30 and 31, with the objective of exploring opportunities for international cooperation with regional blocs, Observer States and other allied entities of the PA on issues such as creative industries, environment and sustainability, gender and women’s empowerment, among others.

COMMUNICATIONS PPT PACIFIC ALLIANCE

July 4, 2024 – The National Coordinators of the Pacific Alliance (PA) met today in Valparaiso, Chile, in a preparatory meeting for the meeting of the High Level Group of the PA, composed of the deputy ministers of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of the bloc, to be held tomorrow in the same city.

The meeting was led by the National Coordinators of Chile, as pro tempore presidency (PPT), and included representatives from Colombia, Mexico and Peru, both virtually and in person.

During the meeting, they reviewed the status of processes and agreements of the Council of Ministers regarding Costa Rica and the 2024 work plan of the Cooperation Fund; they also discussed the status of technical projects financed by this Fund; the interest of other countries in this regional integration mechanism and its relationship with the ASEAN and Mercosur blocs, among other topics.

Before the start of the meeting, the National Coordinators participated in the opening ceremony of the presentation of the results of the “SME Policy Index 2024: Towards an inclusive, resilient and sustainable recovery”, an analytical tool developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in cooperation with the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) and the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF). This Index is a valuable input for the Technical Group on SMEs, which will use it as input for the preparation of the Public-Private Roadmap for MSMEs.

Communications PPT 2024 Pacific Alliance

July 31, 2023 – The National Coordinators of the Pacific Alliance (PA) -a regional integration mechanism in which Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru participate- met in Santiago, Chile, in a meeting that, among other matters, addressed the transfer of the pro tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance from Chile to Peru.

During the morning, the National Coordinators (NCs) reviewed the upcoming activities of the Pacific Alliance, reviewed the work and minutes of previous PA meetings and also reviewed the reports of the Work Plans of the Technical Groups for the period August 2023-March 2024. In the afternoon, the National Trade Coordinators reviewed the reports of the Committees and Sub-Committees and working groups of the Additional Protocol to the PA Framework Agreement. They also held a virtual meeting with Pablo Garcia and Rodrigo Contreras of the Inter-American Development Bank.

The meeting was led by Chile, current pro tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance, and was attended by the National Coordinating Bodies of the countries that make up this integration mechanism.

PACIFIC ALLIANCE COMMUNICATIONS

31 August 2023 – The National Coordinators of the Pacific Alliance (PA), a regional integration mechanism made up of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, met today in Lima, Peru.

During the meeting, the National Coordinators addressed issues related to the expansion of the mechanism, the PA Cooperation Fund and the current status of the Joint Declarations of cooperation between the Pacific Alliance and Observer States, regional blocs and other allied bodies of the mechanism, on topics such as circular economy, gender, environment, among others.

They also discussed the guidelines for the development of cooperation initiatives between the Pacific Alliance and third states, as well as the celebration of the next meetings of the Pacific Alliance at the end of this year and the beginning of 2024. In the same way, they addressed the organization of important trade events that will benefit and promote the internationalization of MSMEs in the region.

The meeting was led by Peru, the current pro tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance, and was attended by the National Coordinating Bodies of the countries that make up this integration mechanism.

• With this initiative, maids, and cooks were able to comparatively analyze the Chilean standard in the hands of Australian advisors.

April 25, 2023.- The Human Capital table of the Undersecretary of Tourism of Chile together with Sernatur, Chilean Association of Tourism (ACHET); Chilean Federation of Gastronomy (FEGACH), Ministry of Education and ChileValora organized two training days for the occupational profiles of kitchen teacher and maid teacher for more than 50 tourism, gastronomy and hotel professionals.

In both days, Chilean standards were compared with the international level offered by APEC. These activities were developed within the framework of the APEC – Pacific Alliance project, promoted by the Education Department of the Australian Embassy in conjunction with Chilean public institutions since 2016.

For the Undersecretary of Tourism of Chile, Verónica Pardo Lagos, “these instances of national and international articulation around the professionalization of human talent are vital for our sector. We know that Chile has come a long way in international standards, but we can always continue to improve our quality of service and experiences through these initiatives that must be permanent over time.”

Likewise, from the Ministry of Education of Chile, the Undersecretary of Higher Education, Víctor Orellana Calderón, highlighted the importance of professional technical education and trades, “as a path to development, therefore, it is not just about training skills and obtain titles, but to build a capacity at the service of the modernization of our production processes. For this reason, it is very necessary to work in an articulated way in the definition of standards that facilitate and make the training processes even more relevant. In this sense, we have made progress in a Qualifications Framework policy to be clear about the skill profiles we need. We know that learning is a permanent process and if we want to continue advancing under international standards, we have to generate more instances like this one”, he indicated.

Australia, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru have developed these face-to-face workshops within the framework of the APEC-Pacific Alliance Project, and Australia is a member of APEC and an Observer State of the Pacific Alliance, which is why the Vice Head of Mission, the Mrs. Joanne Lovejoy emphasized the interest of both countries in promoting the recovery of the tourism sector after the pandemic, and that this depends on having trained personnel who can satisfy the national and international demand for work in this sector. He also stressed that “APEC has been carrying out cooperation work on qualifications for a long time that focuses on linking governments, industry and educational institutions so that the supply of training is better aligned with the demand for employment.”

From ChileValora, its Executive Secretary, Ximena Rivillo, mentioned that “the Pacific Alliance has shown significant progress in the recognition and homologation of labor certifications. This APEC initiative allows us to move further towards strengthening the employability of people who hold these certifications beyond national borders”.

These conferences were of great value for unions such as ACHET and FEGACH, which participated in the workshops, regarding which they pointed out that “it is of great relevance to position the work of the tourism human capital table in projects like this, which allow promote the process of continuous improvement in the professionalization of the human capital of the sector. The link with international peers in matters of job training is a very valuable element that we must maintain”, according to Lorena Arriagada, ACHET General Secretary, while Felipe Yáñez, FEGACH president, emphasized that “national and international articulated work is the key to continue advancing in the training and closing gaps of those who give life to the worker and professional sector”.