Women and MSMEs, the winners of the X Business Macro-Round of the Pacific Alliance

January 4, 2023.- As every year, the Promotion Agencies Technical Group of the Pacific Alliance, through its promotion agencies ProChile, ProColombia, the Ministry of Economy of Mexico and PromPerú, held the X Business Macro-Round of the Pacific Alliance, an iconic event of the mechanism of integration that aims to promote the best of the exportable supply of the bloc, thus promoting the commercial relationship between the four member countries and with prioritized third markets.

The X Macro-Round was made up of three virtual business roundtables, focused on markets in America (September 26 to 30), Europe (October 17 to 21), and Asia (October 24 to 28). The prioritized sectors were: agro-food and beverages, consumer goods such as textiles and footwear, wooden articles and fine pearls, cosmetic and hygiene products, medical instruments and general manufacturing such as mechanical, electrical and plastic devices.

It should be noted that, in this edition, the participation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) was promoted, as well as companies led by women, establishing a 60% quota for exporting MSMEs or those ready to export from the Pacific Alliance in the 3 business conference, and 30% of places for companies led by women specifically for commercial activity in Europe.

In these three business roundtables, 327 exporting companies from the Pacific Alliance had an opportunity to make business appointments with 128 international buyers from 27 countries. These commercial meetings left business expectations for the business fabric of the block for USD 5,790,091.00, which translates into more business opportunities aiming to have an increasingly integrated and global Pacific Alliance.

Finally, within the framework of this important joint promotion activity, two academic agendas were carried out. The first, on September 20 in the framework of the business conference with American countries and the second held on October 11 and 12 focused on the European and Asian markets. Both presented important points to consider when entering the three markets, such as: entry restrictions, certifications and good practices. In total, 178 people benefited from the information shared.

The Academic Agenda is available on the page of the Promotion Agencies Technical Group:

https://alianzapacifico.net/grupotecnico-agencias-de-promocion/

Women and Fintech: Challenges and Opportunities in the Pacific Alliance

October 6th, 2022.- On Thursday, October 6th, the online event “Women and Fintech: Challenges and Opportunities in the Pacific Alliance” was held, organized by the Pacific Alliance Gender Technical Group, with the support of the Council of Finance Ministers of this regional integration mechanism and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

The event had more than 140 participants and was attended by financial authorities from the region, such as the commissioner for the Chile Financial Market Commission, Bernardita Piedrabuena, and Karla Zárate, Financial Inclusion Analyst at the Superintendence of Banking, Insurance and AFP from Peru. On behalf of the private sector of the PA member countries, Patricio Sandoval, Country Manager of Mastercard for Chile and Paraguay, Christine Chang, Vice President of Revenue at Tribal and Editor-in-Chief of Mexico This Week in Fintech and Juliana Carmona, Country Manager DOCK from Colombia.

FinTechs seek to offer new innovative business models based on the use of technology (programs, algorithms, and computer and mobile applications), which allow the improvement and disruption of financial services. The above-mentioned has been enabled through new channels for the use and access to financial services, encouraging competition and promoting financial inclusion, such as digital payments, technological platforms that make possible services such as financing between individuals (peer-to-peer lending), digital strategies, and extensive customer databases that can improve the offer of financial services. FinTech institutions are expected to remove barriers for clients and providers through digitization, and this will lead to more accessible financial services, in light of which it is also relevant to consider gender gaps in these areas.

In terms of progress closing the gender gap within the sector, although FinTechs have made significant progress incorporating women in their leadership positions, compared to other sectors of the financial system, there are still challenges to close the gender gap. As an example of these challenges, according to the IDB in its publication FinTech in Latin America (IDB, 2022), 15% of FinTech entrepreneurships in Latin America are close to equitable gender representation in their work teams, which indicates that there is still a long way to go to close the gender gap in the rest of the institutions.

Thus, the objective of this event was to analyze the participation of women in FinTech in the PA countries, both as consumers, founders, and workers, such as investors in this sector. During the conversation panel, the guests shared their perspectives on the evolution of the FinTech sector, they referred to the opportunities that the sector offers for women and how it would benefit from their participation, moreover sharing experiences and learnings acquired around their jobs in the area of FinTech, as well as government initiatives, challenges faced, support networks and the importance of gender equality in their work.

It is highlighted from the interventions that the inclusion of women in the FinTech sector generates greater benefits for companies, compared to companies that have a lower percentage of women, in addition to the efforts of the public sector to make this industry more inclusive and above all a whole phrase from the Chile Commissioner “let’s break our own barriers to generate our empowerment”.

With UK importers: First Pacific Alliance e-Business Roundtable ends with US$17 million in projected business

The unprecedented virtual meeting, which replaced the Business Macro-round organized by ProChile, ProColombia, the Ministry of Economy of Mexico and PROMPERU, brought together 50 exporters from the four countries. It also closed with concrete business deals for US$1.5 million.

Between June 23 and July 2, the promotion entities of the member countries of the Pacific Alliance (ProChile, ProColombia, the Ministry of Economy of Mexico and PROMPERU), carried out for the first time since its creation an “e-Business Roundtable”, an opportunity in which they managed to connect 50 exporting companies with 24 importers from the United Kingdom.

Thanks to the 125 meetings held, the entrepreneurs achieved positive business results. They closed immediate business deals for US$ 1.5 million, and in turn a final projection for US$ 17 million for the next 12 months.

The priority sectors for this trade meeting were fresh fruit, nuts, specialty coffee, and cocoa and its derivatives, as well as honey and beverages.

The Director-General of ProChile, Jorge O’Ryan, expressed his satisfaction with this first virtual meeting organized jointly by the four countries. “As promotion agencies we are seeking to articulate our work to provide concrete support to our exporters, and thus mitigate the damage caused by COVID-19. In this sense, this first e-Roundtable is an important turn, passing our expertise to a virtual format, being able to generate enough confidence with the importers so that they can do business. Without a doubt, the result has exceeded our expectations with the amounts obtained”.

Similarly, the president of ProColombia, Flavia Santoro, indicated that “these good results with the United Kingdom encourage us to continue working towards intraregional economic reactivation. For the next two e-Roundtables, we also seek to achieve positive results with the countries of the bloc, the Central American countries and especially those in Asia, where we see great potential to increase non-mining energy exports from our countries”.

On the Mexican side, the head of the Global Economic Intelligence Unit of the Ministry of Economy, Dr. Sergio Silva, commented that “as the Pacific Alliance we must continue to take advantage of the opportunities that technological tools give us, adapting ourselves to the circumstances and seeking to maintain international trade during this juncture. With innovations such as this first e-Roundtable, we support the inclusion of companies in global markets, reducing costs and achieving diversification in export destinations”.

Finally, the executive president of PROMPERU, Luis Torres, highlighted the articulated work of the agencies at this juncture to provide virtual tools for trade promotion to exporting companies, mainly SMEs, and expressed the commitment to continue making the greatest effort to help them realize their internationalization projects, which will continue throughout the year, confident that they will have as good results as in this first e-Business Roundtable.

Pacific Alliance exports to the United Kingdom had an increase of 1.1% in 2019 compared to 2018, according to statistics provided by the Directorate of Studies of SUBREI – ProChile.

The e-Business Roundtables were born as a way to help the small and medium-sized exporting companies of the bloc that have been affected by the interruption of international trade due to COVID-19 and its advance around the world.

This activity was the first of three virtual business meetings organized by the promotion agencies of the Pacific Alliance and that will replace in 2020 its traditional Business Macro-round. The next ones will be held with Intralianza and Central American buyers, between August 11 and 21 – registrations for exporters are already open – and the last one with Asian importers for the month of September.

All information on dates and calls is available at the following link: https://www.prochile.gob.cl/difusion/varios/eRuedas-de-negocios-Alianza-Pacifico/index.html

With the participation of more than 200,000 people, the VII Pacific Alliance Youth Meeting took place in Mexico

October 22, 2022.- On October 20, the VII Pacific Alliance Youth Meeting was inaugurated in Mexico City, under the theme CREATORS OF CHANGE. The forum, organized by Nestlé, in cooperation with the PA, facilitates the space for dialogue and exchange of experiences and seeks to increase cooperation and job placement, in order to contribute to the productivity and competitiveness of the four countries.

On this occasion, for the first time, the Youth Meeting is being held in a hybrid format, with the participation of more than 200,000 young people from different countries.

Representatives of the High Level Group of the four member countries participated in the inauguration. José Miguel Ahumada, Undersecretary of International Economic Relations of Chile, invited young people not to fear failing and always act consistently, regardless of adversity. He also stressed that people’s spirit of curiosity brings the necessary changes to society.

Marcelo Ebrard, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, pointed out that “investing in young people, listening to young people, trusting young people is the best thing we can do.” The Mexican Foreign Minister added that “the Pacific Alliance is strong, because it has a common vision, and part of that vision, an important dimension, is listening to young people” because that is what gives it strength and vitality.

Likewise, Ana Cecilia Gervasi Díaz, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru, invited young people to be persevering and optimistic. On behalf of Colombia, the Minister of Commerce, Germán Umaña, participated.

During the second day of activities, among others, the panel “International mobility: the young route” was held in order to publicize the student mobility opportunities offered by the PA countries within the framework of their scholarship program. #JóvenesCREA

The Meeting has been held since 2016 in the Pacific Alliance, as a result of Nestlé’s global program “Initiative for Youth”, with the aim of strengthening this cooperation to promote employability, mobility and provide tools for young people.

With several offers of cooperation, the II Pacific Alliance International Cooperation Forum culminates

Among the most outstanding areas to explore possible joint cooperation projects are global value chains, education, gender, environment, digital agenda, disaster management, artificial intelligence, among others.

November 26, 2020 – Yesterday, the II Pacific Alliance (PA) International Cooperation Forum ended, where representatives of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru met with 226 delegates from 48 countries, representatives of the PA Observer States, the European Union, the Eurasian Economic Community (EEC) and ASEAN.

The Forum, which was intended to consolidate the relationship with the observer states of the mechanism, with which it has been working jointly for several years, was divided into five chapters: the Americas; the EEC, Eurasia, the Middle East and Africa; the European Union and its members; East Asia and Oceania; and ASEAN, and it was developed entirely virtually.

The chapters addressed topics of diverse technical scope, related to international cooperation and economic cooperation. These included: SMEs; Agenda and Digital Economy; Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment; Mobility of People and Security; Creative and Cultural Industries; Science, Technology and Innovation; Smart Cities and Transportation; Tourism Reactivation; Environment, Sustainability and Water Resources Management; Facilitation of Trade in Services; and Disaster Risk Management, among others.

“We are very pleased with the outcome of the Second Forum, as it has been demonstrated that our integration block today more than ever interacts vividly with its Observer States. We hope to be able to implement each of the projects, ideas and ambitions presented. From the Pacific Alliance we maintain our commitment to our citizens to push for solutions, and to work actively with our partners for economic reactivation,” said Rodrigo Yáñez, Undersecretary of International Economic Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile, the country that holds the pro tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance.

The first session with the countries of the Americas was held on November 10, with the participation of 68 representatives from 10 observer countries. During this meeting, various proposals emerged, such as that of Canada to share experiences in relation to Global Value Chains, Services and Cultural Industries, in addition to reviewing elements on the Gender approach.

On November 12, in the chapter referring to Europe, Eurasia, Africa, the Middle East and India, 27 representatives from 11 observer states participated, highlighting the offer of cooperation from Switzerland to hold a workshop on Public Procurement, continuing cooperation with the private sector in water management; from Georgia the collaboration in the exchange of ideas on the facilitation of trade in services; while Norway invited to participate in a workshop on Disaster Management.

The third chapter was dedicated to the European Union, on November 17, where 80 delegates from 17 countries of the European bloc spoke with the PA counterparts on possible areas of cooperation. In particular, the European Union offered to deepen the technical work on the Environment, Digital Agenda and Tourism; while Spain expressed its interest in carrying out workshops of interest to the Alliance together with its Spanish centers in Latin America, as well as giving continuity in terms of Education to programs and scholarships; and Slovenia proposed to provide experiences in the field of artificial intelligence, deepening in areas of cybersecurity and digital threats.

At the fourth meeting, on November 19, representatives of the Pacific Alliance met with 21 delegates from Australia, China, South Korea, Japan and New Zealand, where they discussed cooperation interests in the digitization of small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as facilitating access for SMEs to global value chains. In the area of innovation, New Zealand offered to exchange experiences on innovation applied to agriculture.

Finally, on the night of November 24, the final chapter of the II Forum was held with the meeting with countries of Southeast Asian and ASEAN, where 30 delegates participated. One of the most important topics was disaster management, in which Indonesia and Thailand pledged interest in participating in a workshop on the subject in early 2021. Indonesia also expressed its interest in collaborating with the Pacific Alliance on Mobility of People and Post-Pandemic Economic Recovery, as well as working with the PA on the gender gap, sharing good practices for overcoming the problem. the problem.

PACIFIC ALLIANCE PPT COMMUNICATIONS

With high participation, Pacific Alliance Technical Subgroup on Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (SGT-MRV) held the fourth technical workshop on Art. 6 of the Paris Agreement

May 10, 2023.- As part of the work of the Pacific Alliance MRV Technical Subgroup (SGT-MRV) and with the technical support of the Gold Standard and financial support from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), this May 10, 2023, the fourth and last session of the first series of technical workshops on the implementation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement was held. This session was also open to the participation of the MRV Community of Practice and brought together close to 90 attendees from the public and private sectors from Latin America and other regions.

The presentation of the contents was in charge of Hugh Salway, Head of Markets and Alliances of Gold Standard. The main objective of the workshop was to review and reinforce the three key elements addressed in the previous technical sessions with the delegates of the Pacific Alliance countries. Specifically about:

  1. International Transfer Mitigation Results Authorization (ITMO)
  2. Appropriate settings, and
  3. Registry and registry interoperability

The complete material of each session is available under the heading workshops in the SGT-MRV section on the official website of the Pacific Alliance: https://alianzapacifico.net/grupotecnico-medio-ambiente/

The session included welcoming remarks by Berioska Quispe, Director of Greenhouse Gas Mitigation of the Ministry of the Environment of Peru, who highlighted the importance of opening discussions on the implementation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement in the region, as well as to share experiences and advances with other jurisdictions. He also highlighted Peru’s progress with the pre-publication of the regulation for the National Registry of Mitigations (RENAMI) of Peru, which is in the process of addressing the suggestions of the public consultation to which it was recently submitted. Along the same lines, he indicated that the operationalization of the bilateral agreement signed between Peru and Switzerland in the exploration of Article 6 mechanisms is under internal discussion.

Finally, it should be noted that the SGT-MRV coordination invited the participants to join the MRV Community of Practice through the LinkedIn group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12483716/ and stated the purpose of join efforts to move towards a ‘MRV Collaborative Laboratory’. At the end of the day, about 30 people joined to make a total of 160 members.

With Declaration on Gender Equality and the Digital Market of the bloc concludes the Pacific Alliance Summit

On the occasion, Chile transferred the pro tempore presidency of the regional mechanism to Colombia after 16 months of management.

Santiago, December 11, 2020. Today the XV Summit of the Pacific Alliance was held. The meeting was led by the President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, who was accompanied in person by the President of Colombia, Iván Duque, and virtually by the Presidents of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and Peru, Francisco Sagasti.

During the Summit, the presidents signed the Santiago Declaration, which expresses their “deep regret for the loss of thousands of human lives in the region, as well as the loss of millions of jobs and the increase in poverty as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” their commitment to “continue working together to recover from the effects generated by COVID-19 and overcome its economic and social impacts,” and their “recognition for the prompt development and implementation of the COVID-19 Action Plan” of the Pacific Alliance.

In the Declaration, the presidents also thanked the observer states, regional mechanisms and international organizations for their participation in the Second Technical Cooperation Forum 2020 and highlighted the adoption of the Joint Declaration on a Partnership between the States Parties to the Framework Agreement of the Pacific Alliance and the European Union, signed on September 25, 2019, which made it possible to share experiences regarding economic recovery in the face of COVID-19.

They highlighted the launch of the Pacific Alliance web platform, developed in conjunction with the IDB, and the implementation of the Roadmap on Improving Management of the bloc, “which will allow for more efficient work, with clearer roles and permanent monitoring of mandates.

They also indicate their agreement with “the approval of the Roadmap of the Presidential Declaration on Sustainable Management of Plastics, signed in Lima in July 2019, which will allow the implementation of actions aimed at reducing the impact of single-use plastics on our environment”.

Inspired to achieve the goal of the Pacific Alliance to promote greater growth, development and competitiveness of the economies of the countries that make up the Alliance, with a view to achieving greater well-being, overcoming socio-economic inequality and social inclusion of their people, the Presidents signed the Pacific Alliance Presidential Declaration on Gender Equality, which is accompanied by a roadmap to identify priority areas for action and goals in terms of economic empowerment to guide the work of the Pacific Alliance in the design, implementation and evaluation of public policies and initiatives to promote the economic and social development of women in the region, as well as the adoption of regulations to eliminate barriers to women’s access to capital and credit; to have measures that ensure that men and women have equal rights and opportunities in the workplace; to increase the regional balance of women in decision-making positions; to increase the regional balance of women graduates in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The Presidents also declared their firm intention to advance the implementation of the Strategy for a Regional Digital Market within the framework of the Pacific Alliance, to improve access to digital commerce; create an enabling environment to promoting digital commerce and boost the digital economy to generate new sources of growth and productivity, by signing the Pacific Alliance Presidential Declaration on the development of the Regional Digital Market and the drive towards Digital Transformation. The Regional Digital Market will allow, particularly SMEs, to expand their opportunities through actions aimed at reducing trade barriers and the use of digital tools for their international insertion.

During the Summit, the highest authorities of the Pacific Alliance held a meeting with the President of Ecuador, Lenin Moreno, a country that is applying to become a full member of the regional mechanism.

They also met with the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, a Candidate country for Associated State of the Pacific Alliance with which a substantial closure of negotiations has been reached.

In addition, they held virtual meetings with the members of the Pacific Alliance Business Council (CEAP, by its acronym in Spanish) and with representatives of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF).

See Presidential Declaration of Santiago
Pacific Alliance Presidential Declaration on Gender Equality
Pacific Alliance Presidential Declaration on the development of the Regional Digital Market and the drive towards Digital Transformation

PACIFIC ALLIANCE

With buyers from Asia and Oceania: Pacific Alliance’s most ambitious virtual business meeting begins

Already with the experience of 2 previous virtual meetings – with the United Kingdom and Latin America – the promotion entities start the most extensive event and with more participating exporters: 10 business days and 160 entrepreneurs from the 4 countries.

September 2nd, 2020. With nearly 160 exporters from the 4 countries of the Pacific Alliance (Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru) and more than 80 buyers from the markets of Australia, China, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam, the third and last virtual business meeting for exporters of the Pacific Alliance began today.

The initiative is part of the action plan of the 4 promotion entities of the bloc – ProChile, ProColombia, the Ministry of Economy of Mexico and Promperu- to help exporters to face the harsh commercial consequences that the Covid-19 pandemic has left worldwide, and especially to Latin American countries.

After the meetings organized with the United Kingdom (in June) and with Intra-Alliance and Central American markets (during August) that ended with business projections for companies in the 4 markets for more than US$ 60.5 million, today begins the last one, which will connect exporters with key economies for the Pacific Alliance and in the process of reactivation of Asia and Oceania.

Given its special characteristics, volume and time zone, this third meeting is considered the most ambitious of all. From today until September 11, it is estimated that 450 business meetings will be held with the buyers called for the occasion.

In terms of participation by countries, there will be 40 exporters from each of them. On this occasion, they will only be from the agrifood sector, since it has a lot of potential in the countries of the Pacific Alliance, and one of the sectors with the greatest demand in Asia. At the same time, it is a sector that has been hard hit by the pandemic.

Academic Sessions

In order to know in detail, the opportunities offered to PA exporters by the markets of Asia and Oceania, preparation sessions were held to better address business meetings with buyers from that region, during the week prior to this meeting.

Firstly, seminars were given on “how to do business” with Asian markets and their current economic situation.

In addition, other topics that have become key during this period, such as e-commerce and sustainability, were addressed. Through presentations given by specialists in both subjects, as well as specific cases of companies from the 4 countries that are implementing this type of measures in their production and commercialization, close to 100 exporters were able to learn about the latest in both trends.

The third and last e-Business Roundtable will end on September 11, and thus will end this virtual initiative that was carried out to replace the traditional Pacific Alliance Business Roundtable, given the impossibility of carrying it out due to the border closures that occurred as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The PA e-Business Roundtables have become an unprecedented initiative, by carrying out this type of meeting completely online and for exporters from 4 countries in parallel.

With a webinar on the forms of measurement disaggregated by sex, the gender focus training of the technical groups and committees of the Pacific Alliance comes to an end

On Wednesday, June 9, the last day of training on gender approach was held for the members of the technical groups, committees and working groups of the Pacific Alliance (PA), organized by the Technical Group on Gender of the PA with support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

The webinar “Forms of measurement disaggregated by sex”, which was attended by more than 100 participants, was led by Alicia Frohmann, an ECLAC consultant with a long career in international trade and in academic, government and international organizations. She also directs the global project Gender, Social Inclusion and Cooperation Trade of the United Kingdom. As an academic, she is a professor at the Institute of International Studies of the University of Chile and the Center for Latin America of the University of Heidelberg.

At the event, the importance of integrating a gender approach in the analysis and evaluation of any initiative through the use of sex-disaggregated data was highlighted. Similarly, developing an intersectional and multidimensional analysis is key to identify and understand the situation of women in any scenario. Finally, the speaker emphasized the great opportunity that the technical groups, committees and subcommittees of the Pacific Alliance have to create spaces for sharing experiences, strengths and weaknesses in the collection and use of sex-disaggregated data in each of their countries.

These three days of training also addressed issues such as the incorporation of gender approach – in a transversal way – in the work of the groups and the use of inclusive language, and the development of projects with this approach, all this in order to achieve what was established in 2015 through the Declaration of Paracas to promote gender equality and mainstream the gender perspective in the various initiatives and actions of the Pacific Alliance.

See the full presentation here.

Webinar Women Network in Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Pacific Alliance

Are you an artisanal fisherman, small-scale fish farmer or do you carry out related activities?

We invite you to participate in the webinar to reactivate the Women Network in Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Pacific Alliance, within the framework of the project “Promote the commercialization and consumption of artisanal fishing and aquaculture products in the Pacific Alliance, in order to help mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic”.

It will be a virtual meeting, on Thursday, May 25:

  • 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in Chile
  • 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. in Peru/Colombia
  • 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Mexico City

Register at the following link and you will receive an email with a personalized and non-transferable invitation to participate in the event.

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_DTP86p4TTOuv4kNfynNhmA

Sign up to secure space

We are waiting for you!

This webinar is coordinated by the Fishing and Aquaculture Technical Group and executed by the University of Concepción and Fundación Bordemar de Chile.