Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile

Foreign Minister Heraldo Muñoz highlighted the importance of the work meeting held today in Lima between the Pacific Alliance and Mercosur in order to set up a framework between both Latin American entities.
"We are very happy because of the meeting that has taken place between these two Latin American sub-regional trading blocs in order to find a certain level of consensus that will allow us to develop a common agenda. It is an initiative that President Bachelet's Government has been promoting. We think that today, in these difficult economic times, it is more necessary than ever to find a rapprochement between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic in order to achieve convergent economic growth", Minister Muñoz said.
On behalf of the Government of Chile, Direcon´s general director, Andres Rebolledo attended the meeting, and gave more details about the common points of interest between Mercosur and the Pacific Alliance. In this regard, he signaled that at first, emphasis will be put on gathering information in areas such as accumulation of origin, trade facilitation across national borders, single window trade, promotion of multilateral commercial trade and small business. Both parties agreed to start working at a technical level through the exchange of information and the analysis of the areas of work of each mechanism. "The idea is to be able to identify potential joint initiatives", Rebolledo said. Scholarship programs and people movements are also part of these common areas.
"Chile is a state member of the Pacific Alliance and associated member of Mercosur. Therefore we are delighted by the good disposition shown by both entities in order to make progress in the near future. Next July, Chile will assume the Pro tempore Presidency of the Pacific Alliance. In this context, we will be glad to keep building the path towards the creation of a framework that will allow us to join efforts and promote commercial and economic growth in the region", Andres Rebolledo said.