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The Pacific Alliance: Creating Opportunities For Investors
A new briefing paper from TMF Group – The Pacific Alliance: creating opportunities for investors - examines the impact of this far-reaching trade agreement and how international businesses can best harness the potential of this vibrant, growing region.
“This is an incredibly exciting time for Latin American countries with the Pacific Alliance now allowing the region to do business with much larger world economies than would have be possible individually,” explains Antonio Soler, Regional Director of Business Development at TMF Group.
“Historically, Latin America has been a complex region in which to do business, but the Pacific Alliance has streamlined and harmonised a number of key areas, resulting in regulatory reform, increased competitiveness and free trade, as well as fiscal transparency to facilitate the fight against transnational crime.”
The Pacific Alliance was established in 2011, with the objective of collaborating to establish the free circulation of goods, services and people. The Alliance is currently comprised of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru but other countries may also soon look to join, including Costa Rica and Panama.
Together, the Pacific Alliance now constitutes the world’s 8th largest economy and the 7th largest exporting entity globally, with a growing relationship with countries in the Asia Pacific region in particular.
At the beginning of July, the Presidents of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru - with delegates from 42 observer countries - came together at the X Summit of the Pacific Alliance to discuss the opportunities and challenges of boosting the economic and social competitiveness of their respective countries. They were joined by representatives from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), European Union (EU), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other international organizations that support the region’s economic and social integration.
Soler continues: “With a combined workforce of 218 million people, most of whom are young and skilled, the Pacific Alliance offers great opportunities for would-be investors – particularly in the areas of natural resources, energy and manufacturing. The region has also seen significant improvements in its transport and service infrastructure, including telecommunications and electricity), which has greatly improved the transit of goods and the ease of establishment of local operations.”
He concludes: “As a global business services provider helping businesses to enter and expand into new territories, TMF Group has first-hand experience of these improvements and welcomes the opportunities that the Pacific Alliance now brings in developing the region.”