PANEL ANALYZED THE CHALLENGES THAT PACIFIC ALLIANCE COUNTRIES FACE

Santiago, January 27- A panel entitled The Pacific Alliance Promise was held in Davos, Switzerland. It was attended by Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, Peru's Prime Minister César Villanueva, and Chilean Finance Minister Felipe Larraín, and was moderated by ECLAC's Executive Secretary, Alicia Bárcena.

At the gathering, which was held in the framework of the World Economic Forum's annual meeting, the panelists discussed the challenges of this alliance, formed by Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Chile.

The objective was to exchange concepts about the way in which the Pacific Alliance will ensure member states meet their growth targets, building on the achievements made to date and focusing on the expectations of the four participating countries as well as the international community.

"The Pacific Alliance has generated a lot of interest worldwide. We are talking about 210 million inhabitants and a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that represents 35% of Latin America's as a whole," Bárcena said, opening the panel.

The presidents of Mexico and Colombia stressed that the agreement has an inclusive nature. "This is not a political alliance, this is an alliance that seeks integration and development on the basis of economic growth," Peña Nieto said.

"This is an alliance that aims to strengthen member states' economies, while also deepening integration by bolstering productive chains," Santos emphasized.

Among the advances made, the representatives highlighted the elimination of visas and the creation of common embassies in countries like Vietnam and Ghana, as well as the promotion of the alliance in trade, investment and tourism forums.

They also referred to the importance of the creation of the Pacific Alliance Business Council, formed by high-level business executives from the four countries, and the Latin American Integrated Market (MILA), which groups the Colombian, Chilean and Peruvian stock exchanges.

"We at ECLAC see that the region has reached a consensus about equality, inclusion, structural change, reindustrialization, and employment as the master key. The Pacific Alliance is an opportunity for uniting the region," the United Nations official stressed.

Alicia Bárcena, who attends the Davos Forum in her role as Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and as Vice President of the Global Agenda Council on Latin America, was also invited to take part in a working group of the Responsible Mineral Development Initiative (RMDI), at which participants included the presidents of Guinea, Alpha Condé; Liberia, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf; and Ghana, John Dramani Mahama; as well as ministers of Peru, Ukraine, Chile, Mozambique and Mongolia.

The 44th meeting of the World Economic Forum-which gathers 43 heads of state and governments from throughout the world, as well as prominent business leaders, international politicians, journalists and intellectuals-aims to analyze economic inequality, youth unemployment, the consequences of global warming and the shortage of water, among other issues.

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