MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Pacific Alliance and Mercosur begin round of ministerial informative meetings

Mercosur describes the Pacific Alliance as “a regional integration initiative started in April 2011”, while Mercosur was launched in Paraguay in 1991.

The Pacific Alliance and Mercosur will be holding a two-day ministerial informative meeting in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, beginning this Friday, a first approach to a possible convergence of the two groupings, according to official releases.

 The meeting follows an initiative from the Alliance (Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico) born during the group's last summit held in Mexico, in June, with the purpose of “an informative dialogue to address characteristics, achievements and objectives of each of these integration mechanisms, acknowledging that Latin America and the Caribbean are a diverse region, but at the same time share culture and the ideals of peace and prosperity”.

Attendance of the meeting on the Mercosur side (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela) is coordinated by Argentina which currently holds the group's pro tempore chair, and according to the release, “will have the purpose of initiating a consultation and exchange process on integration development experiences, which are being advanced by both groups”.

Mercosur describes the Pacific Alliance as “a regional integration initiative started in April 2011”, while Mercosur was launched in Asunción, Paraguay in 1991.

“The meeting will enable to strengthen dialogue channels between the diverse regional actors to the benefit of our peoples”, reads the Pacific Alliance communiqué which describes itself as a regional integration initiative, “open and inclusive which targets a deep integration in the economic-trade field to address the challenges emanated from globalization”.

Finally Mercosur affirms that the two regional groups have as objective deepening integration among its members and all those countries which have long standing trade agreements among themselves, in the framework of the Latin American Integration Association, Aladi, launched in 1980.