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The Pacific Alliance began on April 28, 2011
as a regional integration initiative comprised of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, within the
framework of the Latin American Pacific Basin Initiative.
The objective of the Pacific Alliance is to form an area of deep integration that boosts
further growth, development and competitiveness of the economies it comprises, by progressively
seeking free movement of goods, services, capital and people; as well as becoming a platform
for economic and trade integration with a projection towards the Asia-Pacific region.
Since its inception, there have been ten presidential summits and fourteen ministerial
meetings. The eighth Summit took place in Cartagena, Colombia, on 10 February 2014. The
ninth presidential summit was held on 19-20 June 2014, with the participation of presidents
of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. At that meeting, Mexico received the pro tempore
presidency of the Pacific Alliance.
The 10th Presidential Summit of the Pacific Alliance took place in July 2015, with the
attendance of Heads of State and Government of the economic trade bloc and representatives
of 32 observer states and international organizations. The event began with a two-day High
Level Group (GAN) meeting bringing together Ministers of Foreign Trade and Foreign Affairs
from the Pacific Alliance countries. The high-ranking officials discussed the progress made
by technical groups and presented a complete assessment of the process status, highlighting
cooperation, SMEs and innovation, among others.
At the Paracas Summit, Mexico handed over the pro tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance
to Peru. Likewise, Presidents of the Pacific Alliance signed the Declaration of Paracas, in
which they highlighted the upcoming entry into force of the Framework Agreement; the progress
achieved in the process of improvement of the Additional Protocol; and, of the Agreement that
created the Fund for Cooperation. They also expressed their willingness to continue strengthening
cooperation with observer states. During this Summit 10 new countries were admitted as observers:
Austria, Denmark, Georgia, Greece, Haiti, Hungary, Indonesia, Poland, Sweden and Thailand.
The 11th Presidential Summit of the Pacific Alliance took place from 28 June to 01 July 2016,
with the attendance of Heads of State and Government of the economic trade bloc and representatives
of 49 observer states and international organizations.
During the XIII Presidential Summit, held in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on July 24-25, 2018, Member
States signed the Declaration of Puerto Vallarta. The Sixteenth Summit of the Pacific Alliance, that
took place on January 26, 2022, concluded with the signing of the Free Trade Agreement with Singapore
and the signing of a Declaration on Creative Economy.
On August 26, 2013, as part of the ninth Ministerial Meeting, the Pacific Alliance reached an
agreement to liberalize 100 percent of their trade. The agreement also provides for the immediate
reduction of 92 percent of tariff headings.
The Eleventh Ministerial Meeting took place on 30 May 2014. The meeting was held to review the
progress made by the technical groups and to set the agenda for the Pacific Alliance Summit in June
2014. The Twelfth Ministerial Meeting took place on 19 June 2014. On the occasion of the United Nations
General Assembly, the Council of Ministers of the Pacific Alliance countries met on September 25, 2014,
in New York.
On November 2, 2014, ministers of the Pacific Alliance and of the MERCOSUR countries gathered in
Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, in order to advance a dialogue between both blocks and identify potential
areas of cooperation. This meeting responds to a mandate of the heads of State of Chile, Colombia, Mexico
and Peru who pledged to move forward in the dialogue with other integration initiatives in the region.
| Ministerial Meetings
and other-related documents |
| 29 April 2015 |
Mexico City, Mexico. Thirteenth Ministerial Meeting
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| 02 November 2014 |
Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.
First meeting at
ministerial level between the Pacific Alliance and MERCOSUR
|
| 25 September |
New York, NY. Meeting of the Council of Ministers
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| 19 June 2014 |
Mexico City, Mexico. Twelfth Ministerial Meeting
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| 30 May 2014 |
Mexico City, Mexico.
Eleventh Ministerial
Meeting: Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru Joint Press Release
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| 26 August 2013 |
Pacific Alliance countries
concluded trade negotiations
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Playa del Carmen, Mexico. 9th Ministerial Meeting
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| Source:
Dirección General de Relaciones Económicas Internacionales, Chile (DIRECON),
Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Chile |
One of the first issues to define was the foundational institutional framework of the Pacific
Alliance, developed on the basis of the approval of existing free trade agreements between the
member countries. The process of developing a framework agreement culminated in Paranal, Antofagasta,
Chile, on June 6, 2012, with the signing of the Framework Agreement of the Pacific Alliance.
This agreement contains the parameters, institutional architecture and rules that will govern
the process of political and economic articulation, and cooperation between Chile, Colombia, Mexico
and Peru in the framework of the Pacific Alliance; the objectives of the Alliance and the actions
to take to achieve them; the institutions, its attributions and manner of adopting the agreements,
the process to participate as an Observer State and the accession of new State Parties, inter alia.
Currently there are 49 observer states of the Pacific Alliance: Argentina , Australia, Austria, Belgium,
Canada, China, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Germany, Finland ,
France, Georgia, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan,
Morocco, Norway, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Panama, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Republic Republic ,
Romania, Singapore , Slovakia , SpainSouth Korea,Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand , Trinidad and Tobago ,
Turkey , Ukraine, United Kingdom, , United States and Uruguay .
It is noteworthy that the June 9, 2016 , representatives of the Government of Canada and the member
countries of the Pacific Alliance signed a strategic alliance agreement to promote trade and investment.
Therefore , Canada became the first observer country in establishing a strategic alliance with the Pacific
Alliance . According to a joint statement , the agreement formalizes the relationship between Canada and
the Pacific Alliance , providing a framework for long-term collaboration .
On July 8, 2022 Costa Rica announced that it will request the start of the negotiation process to join the Pacific Alliance.
In addition to the Presidential Summits and Ministerial Meetings, the work structure of the Pacific
Alliance includes High Level Group Meetings (HLG) and Negotiating Rounds of the Technical Groups.
The High Level Group (HLG), composed of Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, was
established to supervise the advancement of the technical groups and evaluate new action areas. Since
the Presidential Declaration of 28 April 2011 (Lima, Peru) the following Technical Working Groups have
been created, which address various topics of negotiation:
- Movement of Business Persons and Facilitation of Transit Migration
- Trade and Integration
- Services and Capital
- Cooperation
- Institutional Issues
| High Level
Group (HLG) Meetings |
| 20 March 2024 |
Meeting of the High Level Group
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| 23 November 2022 |
Meeting of the High Level Group
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| 25 April 2022 |
Meeting of the High Level Group
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| 16 November 2021 |
Meeting of the High Level Group
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| 09 April 2021 |
Virtual meeting of the High Level Group
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| 03 July 2020 |
Virtual meeting of the High Level Group
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| 13 March 2020 |
Lima, Peru.
Meeting of the High Level Group
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06 December 2019 |
Bogotá, Colombia. Meeting of the High Level Group
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| 21 October 2019 |
Mexico City, Mexico.
Meeting of the High Level Group
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| 29 March 2019 |
Lima, Peru. Meeting of the High Level Group
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| 31 January 2019 |
Virtual Meeting of the High Level Group
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| 09 November 2018 |
Bogota, Colombia. Meeting of the High Level Group
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| 07 September 2018 |
Santiago, Chile. Meeting of the HLG
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| 23 July 2018 |
Meeting of the HLG |
| 14 June 2018 |
Mexico City, Mexico. 44th Meeting of the HLG
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| 11 May 2018 |
Lima, Peru. Meeting of the HLG
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| 01 June 2017 |
Mexico City, Mexico. 40th Meeting of the HLG
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| 15 December 2016 |
Bogota, Colombia. 38th Meeting of the HLG
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| 11-14 October 2016 |
Mexico City, Mexico. 37th Meeting of the HLG
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| 28 June 2016 |
Puerto Varas, Chile. 36th Meeting of the HLG
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| 07 June 2016 |
Mexico City, Mexico.
35th Meeting of the HLG
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| 25-26 April 2016 |
Lima, Peru. 34th Meeting of the HLG
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| 03 March 2016 |
Bogota, Colombia. 33rd Meeting of the HLG
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| 23 October 2015 |
Punta Arenas, Chile. 32nd Meeting of the HLG
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| 29 April 2015 |
Mexico City, Mexico. 29th Meeting of the HLG
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| 10 October 2014 |
Viña del Mar, Chile. 26th Meeting of the HLG
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| 18 June 2014 |
Punta Mita , Mexico. 25th Meeting of the HLG
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| 29 May 2014 |
Mexico City, Mexico. 24th Meeting of the HLG
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| 08-09 April 2014 |
Lima, Peru. 23rd Meeting of the HLG
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| 03 August 2013 |
Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.
18th Meeting of the HLG
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| 21 June 2013 |
Lima, Peru. 17th Meeting of the HLG
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| 21 May 2013 |
Cali, Colombia. 16th Meeting of the HLG
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| 08-10 May 2013 |
Santiago, Chile. 15th Meeting of the HLG
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| 11-12 April 2013 |
México. 14th Meeting of the HLG
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| 13 March 2013 |
Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.13th Meeting of the
HLG
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| 02 February 2013 |
Lima, Perú. 12th Meeting of the HLG
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| 20 December 2012 |
Cali, Colombia. 11th Meeting of the HLG
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| 08 November 2012 |
Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. 10th Meeting of
the HLG
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| 17 October 2012 |
Lima, Perú. 9th Meeting of the HLG
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| 30 June 2013 |
Villa de Leyva, Colombia. 8th Meeting of the HLG
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| 27 August 2012 |
Puerto Varas, Chile. 7th Meeting of the HLG
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| 2 May 2012 |
Bogotá, Colombia. Meeting of the HLG
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| Source: Dirección
General de Relaciones Económicas Internacionales, Chile (DIRECON); Gobierno de México; Ministerio de Relaciones
Exteriores, Colombia; Portal de la Alianza del Pacífico; Secretaría de Economía, México;
Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, México; Subsecretaría de Relaciones Económicas Internacionales, Chile; Ministerio de Comercio, Industria y Turismo, Colombia |
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Declaration on Creative Economy
