Andres Oppenheimer
When I interviewed Chilean President
After all, Latin American countries have signed dozens of super ambitious economic and political integration blocs in recent years - including those known by their acronyms as ALADI, SICA, MERCOSUR, UNASUR, and CELAC - that were inaugurated with great fanfare, only to be quickly forgotten.
But Pinera told me there are solid grounds to believe that the new bloc will be different, among other things, because it starts out with a big advantage: its members already have free trade agreements between themselves, and can thus move on to more ambitious goals, such as creating a united front to negotiate free trade deals with
"This is an alliance that will go far beyond free trade, because it seeks an integration that allows the free flow of goods, services, investments and people," Pinera said. "And additionally, it seeks physical integration through joint infrastructure and energy projects."
The combined economies of Pacific Alliance members already amount to the world's ninth-largest economy, and their total exports represent 55 percent of
Top officials of Pacific Alliance member countries tell me that one of the new group's main objectives will be signing a free trade deal with the 10-nation
At the
They also agreed to set up joint export promotion offices in Asian countries, eliminate visa restrictions for their citizens, and create a joint university system where - much like in
On the trade side, they agreed that the Pacific Alliance will seek to eliminate all import duties and country-of-origin rules between member countries by the end of 2012. The four leaders also agreed to start negotiations to create a supranational joint dispute resolution system, which - like in
Most international trade experts I talked to are generally upbeat about the
"This looks like something more serious than other Latin American integration efforts," said
Rosales explained that while it seeks the free circulation of goods, services, investments and people, it only contains a fixed deadline for the free movement of goods by the end of this year. There is no such fixed deadline for the remaining three subgroups, he added.
My opinion: The new
The four members of the new bloc, plus
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