Colombia seeks to enter the APEC forum to expand its commercial horizons

Colombia will attend the summit this week Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum), which will be held in San Francisco (USA), with the aspiration of being a full member of that mechanism to which it has sought access for almost 30 years to expand its commercial horizons.

“I believe that President Gustavo Petro is in tune with further expanding Colombia’s diplomatic networks and establishing new commercial ties in an area that is undoubtedly the present and will be stronger in the future.”“said this Monday analyst Manuel Alejandro Rayran, professor at the Externado University of Colombia.

Petro will participate next Thursday and Friday in the summit in San Francisco (USA), hosted by the American president, Joe Biden, as confirmed on Sunday by the Colombian president in a message on his X account (former Twitter).

“Now we will meet with the US, China and other countries of America and Asia in California to enroll Colombia in the economies of the Pacific, the most important economic region in the world,” wrote the president.

In this regard, Rayran added that if the admission of Colombia as a full member of the APECthe country will not only have more access to dynamic and little-explored markets such as those in the Asia-Pacific region, but also more international projection.

“It is a very positive element, a very pragmatic movement that projects Colombian foreign policy towards other regions that have not been so explored”added the expert about Colombia’s entry into APEC.

A wait of 28 years

Colombia began efforts to be part of APEC in 1995, but the institutional moratorium on the entry of new members in force at that time and the subsequent decision of the 21 members not to expand the Forum have made it difficult for the country to enter, something that Petro hopes to achieve in the San Francisco summit.

The South American nation has coasts on the Pacific Ocean and important trade with countries in the Asia-Pacific region, mainly with China, which in 2010 became the country’s second trading partner, after the United States, as well as with Japan and South Korea.

Colombia also has a growing interest in Chinaa country that Petro visited in the last week of October, when he met with his counterpart Xi Jinping, with whom he elevated the bilateral relationship to the category of “strategic partnership”.

If its entry is completed, Colombia will join Mexico, Chile and Peru as the only Latin American countries that are members of APEC and with which it is also a partner in the Pacific Alliance.

When referring to the international projection that Colombia can achieve if it joins APEC, Rayran highlighted that President Petro can also take to that forum “an agenda that is in tune with climate change”, which is one of his concerns, as he has expressed in the UN General Assembly and other forums.

Approaches to APEC

According to the Foreign Ministry, although it is not a member of APEC, Colombia participates institutionally in that Forum through two mechanisms.

One of those participations is as a guest in five working groups related to Tourism, Services, Investment Experts, Mypimes and Customs Procedures Subcommittee. The other is as part of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council delegation, with observer status.

The APEC summit, a forum that covers 60% of global GDP and half of international trade, is being held this week in San Francisco (California) with meetings of finance ministers, followed by another two days of exchanges between foreign ministers. and the presidential appointment, in which Petro will participate, will be on Thursday and Friday.

Under the motto “Creating a resilient and sustainable future for all”, USAin its capacity as host, seeks to underline its commitment to a future “innovative” and “inclusive” for the Asia-Pacific region.