Mexico received on Wednesday, January 26th, the pro tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance, an assignment that it will carry out with the commitment to promote actions to turn the bloc into an “international benchmark.”
The Mexican delegation, led by the Secretary of Finance and Public Credit, Rogelio Ramírez de la O, also participated in the formalization of Singapore’s entry as an Associated State, the first to do so in the bloc’s history, while showing its confidence in that “Ecuador joins” the Alliance.
To join Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru as full members of the Alliance, it is necessary to have trade agreements with each of these countries, and Ecuador only needs to sign it with Mexico, a process that is at an advanced stage.
Ramírez de la O indicated that it is a “pleasure to once again assume the pro tempore Presidency of this regional cooperation mechanism,” especially in a “complex” international context due to the health and economic crisis, “which has forced the international community to think about the profound weaknesses that afflict the vast majority of our populations”.
Mexico has “the firm commitment to promote and coordinate initiatives that allow counteracting the negative effects of the pandemic” during 2022 -Ramírez continued- “underpinning issues that make the Alliance a more integrated, global, connected and citizen mechanism”.
Among the “cross-cutting” issues that Mexico will address during its pro tempore Presidency, the Secretary of the Treasury listed the economic recovery after the pandemic, “with special emphasis on the sectors and population that have been left behind”, as well as gender equality, youth and sustainable management of plastic.
The regional digital market, creative industries, sustainable investment, and financial integration complete the Mexican agenda.
Finally, Ramírez reiterated Mexico’s commitment so that in 2022 the Alliance continues to reaffirm itself as “a benchmark in terms of integration in Latin America”, promoting actions “that allow the Alliance to be positioned as a vanguard mechanism with concrete results”.
“With the united work of all the members, this important mechanism will remain an international benchmark,” predicted the Mexican representative.
With this transfer of the Presidency, the XVI Summit of the Alliance that was held in Bahía Málaga, in the Colombian Pacific, is concluded, and it was the first to be held in person since 2019 due to the pandemic.
In addition to Ramírez, the presidents of Colombia, Iván Duque; from Chile, Sebastián Piñera, and from Peru, Pedro Castillo.
Also present were the President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, and, virtually, the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong.
Source: El Economista
