Ministers of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru They asked small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on Wednesday to take advantage of the benefits of the Pacific alliance to achieve a reactivation of economic activity in the region after the crisis caused by the covid-19 pandemic.
“We know that supply chains have been halted, disrupted by covid-19However, we believe in the possibility of working on the tendency to strengthen this Alliance and in this protocol it will help us to have greater advantages in regional trade”, said the Secretary of the Economy of Mexico, Tatiana Clouthier, during a virtual seminar.
The Mexican official pointed out that There is still much ignorance about the benefits of the commercial alliance between Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peruso the advantages that this commercial exchange can bring to entrepreneurs are not taken advantage of.
In this sense, Rodrigo Yáñez, Undersecretary of International Economic Relations of Chile, highlighted that the Pacific Alliance sought to promote the economic development of the countries that comprise it through the removal of tariff barrierswith which it is expected that by 2030 100% of the products will reach their complete liberalization.
But he regretted that there is “a high level of ignorance of the benefits of the agreement on the part of commercial operators, many of whom have also been accustomed for decades to the use of bilateral preferential schemes in force between our countries.”
Underutilized
Luz María de la Mora, Undersecretary of Foreign Trade of Mexico, stressed that the four countries that make up the alliance, as a whole, represent the 42% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Latin America and the Caribbean and attracts 38% of foreign direct investment.
In addition, he highlighted that, currently, 98% of the products that are marketed with this agreement are duty-free.
Unfortunately, he insisted countries do not use this trade agreement as they shouldwith Mexico being the one that makes the least use of this Alliance, while Colombia is the one that has been most interested.
He explained that the main factors that explain this lack of use is that there is a lack of knowledge of the protocol and its benefits, in addition to little knowledge of the exportable supply that the four countries that make up the treaty have.
He pointed out that, unlike other regions such as the European Union or the states of Southeast Asia, the trade that is made between those who make up the Pacific Alliance does not exceed 20%which means that “there is very little trade between us, the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.”
That is why he urged the need to “take action to promote greater use of this commercial protocol to which we owe great value and from which we want entrepreneurs, especially small and medium-sized companies in the region, to be able to take advantage of it.” .
De la Mora affirmed that this treaty not only generates an integration of the countries but also growth and opportunity in Latin America and, therefore, it is in the interest to promote this alliance and “give our four countries the possibility of continuing to work on this integration route.”
digital tools
Roberto Sánchez, Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism of Peru, stressed that the existing commercial potentialities between Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru must be taken advantage of and for this georegional business roundtables have been held in the last 8 years that have generated export opportunities. for more than 14 million dollars.
That is why this year, with the help of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a web platform to provide information and business link toolsin addition to training for the digitization of SMEs.
“This effort is complemented by the project that the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has been promoting to promote the export of SMEs through better and greater use of platforms based on digital have been expanding their capacity for presence,” he said.
Finally, Luz María de la Mora pointed out that the regional digital market will be a mechanism of great importance since digitization and technology should be used to promote this type of agreement.
“We believe that the Pacific Alliance can contribute to correcting some of the (economic) deficiencies that we are seeing at the international level (due to the pandemic),” he concluded. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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