Good post from FT Beyond BRICS on the Pacific Alliance

Guest post: the Pacific Alliance and why it matters

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By Jorge Rosenblut of Endesa Chile

In January I had the honor to attend a summit of the European Union and the Community of Latin-American and Caribbean Nations in Santiago, Chile. As with many such meetings, the 45 heads of state and prime ministers captured the attention of the international media. But what went almost unnoticed was a seismic shift in Latin American integration — a group of four countries that stood together in what promises to be a historic breakthrough for the region.

After meandering for centuries looking for a raison d’être, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru are forging a 21st century path to the first world. Though these four nations are competitors in many aspects (in exports, foreign investment, talent mobility, etc), their plan for economic integration under the Pacific Alliance heralds a new kind of economic partnership in Latin America: pragmatic not political, forward-looking not historical.

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APEC’s supply chain connectivity and its benefit to agro-industry

[Source] : The Jakarta Post

This year, Indonesia will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Conference in October 2013, and will hold four Senior Officials Meetings (SOMs), 12 Sector Ministerial Meetings, an APEC CEO Summit and the Economic Leaders Meeting. From Jan. 24 to Feb. 8, APEC, SOM I and related meetings are taking place in Jakarta.

APEC is an intergovernmental forum dedicated to promoting free trade, investment and economic cooperation throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

As stated earlier this month by Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, Indonesia will include its own national interest issues on the agenda such as economic resilience, improvement of small- and medium-scale business competitiveness, sustainable growth and food security.

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Colombian president hails close ties with Asia

[Source] : NZ Week

BOGOTA, Jan. 24 — Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said Thursday Colombia would consolidate its ties with Asian and African countries in order to create more business opportunities.

On an annual reception for diplomatic corps, Santos said his country has enjoyed close ties with Asian and African countries and he plans to keep close contact with these countries along his administration.

“Colombia has made significant progress in diplomacy,” said Santos.

Colombia has become more active in working with regional organizations, such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and it now tops the waiting list to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) after two years of “intense and serious” preparation.

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ASIA ONE: The pros and cons of far-reaching trade agreements

The pros and cons of far-reaching trade agreements

[Source] : The Nation/Asia News Network

Amid stagnant multilateral trade talks under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) but fast-moving bilateral and regional negotiations, Thailand is looking at pursuing more free-trade pacts to ensure its competitiveness and level playing fields for Thai enterprises.

The government has been under pressure to consider three major pacts: the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership, a Thailand-European Union FTA, and a comprehensive Thailand-India FTA. Many enterprises and academics support pushing ahead with talks, claiming that market liberalisation will facilitate trade and investment amid a global economic downturn.

Others, however, have warned against rushing into joining these pacts for fear of losing competitiveness with developed nations.

The Nation has reviewed the pros and cons of these potential FTAs as well as summing up the results of past trade agreements. Should Thailand join every trade pact to grasp the benefits of liberalisation amid the stalling of multilateral talks? Or should we slowly study the possible impacts of such agreements, such as emphasis on intellectual property (IP) rights and liberalisation of trade in services and investment? Should we consider extending the negotiation periods to ensure the readiness of Thai enterprises to compete?

TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP

Many Thai enterprises want the country to join the US-initialised TPP. The pact so far involves nine countries: the United States, New Zealand, Singapore, Chile, Brunei, Australia, Peru, Vietnam and Malaysia. Japan, Mexico and Canada have also shown high interest in joining the agreement. Notably, the US is Thailand’s third-largest trading partner, accounting for 10 per cent of total export value. Thai enterprises involved in foods, toys, electronics, garments, sugar, jewellery and ornaments, and footwear support joining the TPP. Exporters share similar views, saying the agreement would entail tariff cuts and lowering of non-tariff barriers to services and trade. Thai exports are facing difficulties amid the slowing economic growth of the US.

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Economic & trading blocs in focus

Headlines galore, with a great deal of political drama hidden behind the scenes.   Below CSA presents a few excerpts from recent news on the ever continuing development of economic and trading blocs between the East and West.

EU, Singapore agree free-trade deal

[Source] : The European Voice

By Andrew Gardner – 16.12.2012 / 16:05 CET

The agreement is the EU’s first with an Asean country and its second in Asia.

The European Union and Singapore today (16 December) announced that they have reached agreement on a free-trade deal, 33 months after they began formal negotiations.

This is the second free-trade agreement struck by the EU in Asia; the first – with South Korea – came into force in July 2011.

The EU began negotiations with Singapore in March 2010 after its hopes of lowering barriers with the ten-country Association of South-East Nations (Asean) were dashed in 2009, and Karel De Gucht, the European trade commissioner, said today he hoped the deal would “open the doors for FTAs [free-trade agreements] with other countries in the Asean region”.

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[Img] : Courtesy of Wiki Commons, Leaders of the TPP

Vietnam sees value in TPP

[Source] : Published: 17/12/2012 at 09:47 AM – Newspaper section: Asia focus

Two competing regional trade plans, while sharing the aims of liberalising trade and improving economic integration, are making many Asean countries nervous at the same time.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has the backing of the United States while the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is favoured by China.

Smaller countries might resent being put in a position where they feel they have to choose between the two. But Vietnam has confidently embraced the TPP, believing it could increase its exports while helping the country attract more foreign investment.

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Trade power play

[Source] : Published: 17/12/2012 at 09:44 AM – Newspaper section: Asia focus

China’s attempt to convince Asean countries to support the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) reflects the country’s aim to become the real economic leader of Asia Pacific and keep the United States at bay, say experts.

While Beijing drums up support for the 16-country RCEP (Asean plus China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand), Washington is making its case for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Both countries went all-out at the Asean and East Asia Summit meetings last month in Phnom Penh, with newly re-elected President Barack Obama talking up the TPP with individual leaders. However, the RCEP now has some real momentum following its formal endorsement by the leaders of the 16 countries involved. They hope to start negotiations in 2013 and finish by 2015. A successful outcome would lead to the creation of the world’s largest regional trading bloc.

The TPP has been on the drawing board for a long time and has proved to be a tougher sell. It envisages a trading bloc covering all of the countries on the Pacific including those in North and South America. Singapore, Chile and New Zealand were original signatories back in 2005, followed by Brunei, while the United States didn’t even enter the picture until 2008. Since then there have been several rounds of talks and six more countries — Australia, Peru, Vietnam, Malaysia, Mexico and Canada — have entered negotiations.

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Latin America – ASEAN in focus

[Img] : Courtesy of WikiCommons

President Obama, along with Secretary of State Hilary Clinton visited Thailand, Cambodia, and Myanmar (making him the 1st US President in history to visit the country) last week. In this ever more interconnected world in which we live, even Latin America is watching closely as the historic trip of US President Barack Obama has made to SE Asia unfolds.

Four messages Obama is sending Latin America from his trip through Asia

[Source] : The Christian Science Monitor

By James Bosworth, Guest blogger / November 19, 2012

Obama may be sending an unintentional message that the US holds Asian countries like Myanmar and China to a lower standard on democracy and human rights.

President Obama’s first post-reelection trip passes through Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), and Cambodia for the ASEAN summit. The messages that Latin America hears from this trip may or may not be the ones the United States intends to send.

Move in the right direction

Burma is a military dictatorship that is less democratic and more repressive than any country in the Western Hemisphere except Cuba. Yet, they’re doing better than they were a decade ago. They’ve released some political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi and have begun reforms to give democratically elected civilians increased power. The US has eased sanctions and the president is visiting. For a country like Cuba, it should be seen as a sign that real reforms can be met with better relations by the US and that gradual progress is possible.

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Brazil signs TAC, offers win-win economic cooperation

[Source] :  The Jakarta Post

By Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Phnom Penh | World | Sun, November 18 2012, 11:08 AM

Brazil has become the 31st highest contracting party and the first in Latin America to sign the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) in Southeast Asia and offers various forms of cooperation, ranging from food security to energy cooperation.

The instruments of Brazil’s accession to TAC and its extension were signed Saturday by foreign ministers from 10 ASEAN member countries and Brazilian Vice Foreign Minister Maria Edileuza Reis at the Peace Palace in the Cambodian capital city.

Brazilian Ambassador to Jakarta and ASEAN Paulo Alberto da Silveira Soares told The Jakarta Post that Brazil considered its accession to TAC a landmark in its relations with Southeast Asia as the country became really engaged in cooperation in a broad sense.

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U.S. to work on economic dimension of pivot to Asia: Clinton

[Source] : The Nation

By: NNI | November 17, 2012, 7:43 pm

The United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Saturday that the U.S. will strengthen its economic engagement in Asia Pacific, in addition to the strategic and security dimensions of what has been known as a ” pivot” to the region.

Delivering a lecture on U.S. diplomatic strategies in the region, Clinton said President Barack Obama is visiting Asia shortly after his re-election because much of the history of the 21st century will be, and is being, written in the region.

She said it is clear that economics are increasingly shaping the strategic landscape and that for the first time in modern history, nations are becoming major global powers without also becoming global military powers.

“Emerging powers are putting their economics at the center of their foreign policies. And they’re gaining clout less because of the size of their armies than because of their GDP (gross domestic product),” she said. “So to maintain our strategic leadership in the region, the U.S. is also strengthening our economic leadership.”

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Vietnam-Uruguay: Prime example of why MERCOSUR has failed

Below you will find an excerpt and link to read the full article on how Vietnam and Uruguay are working together right now to increase cooperation  in investment, agriculture, and farm produce processing, adding that Uruguay can supply such products as beef, fruits and wine to Vietnam. While Vietnam, likewise has much to offer in exchange.

Why do I say that MERCOSUR has failed as a trading bloc? For starters Uruguay can not within the legal framework of the Economic Union negotiate FTA’s with countries unless all members of MERCOSUR are involved in the negotiations and on board.  It seems the intelligent leaders of Uruguay know which way the wind blows and how MERCOSUR is now becoming a major hindrance to their own destiny as a country. To put it simply:

• While Argentina and Brazil bicker over taxes and trade…
• While all members try to figure out what to do with Paraguay and the dirty game which was played to admit Venezuela into the union
• While Argentina continues to raise a stir over the FALKLANDS, which they believe is occupied by “Latino’s.” FAR from the reality, see this article written by a Panamanian journalist who recently visited the Islands… The place is more British than most parts of the ethnically diverse city of London.
• Last, while trade among the Economic Bloc is declining…

Uruguay has realized in this new, ever more inter-connected global economy they are a special country which can offer special incentives and advantages compared to their giant neighbors to the North and South (Brazil and Argentina).

It’s time MERCOSUR takes a deep, introspective look at itself because day by day, the MERCOSUR Union seems to be cracking apart piece by piece.  In the opinion of your author, Uruguay should realize its special niche in the world and that it no longer needs to depend too heavily on Brazil or Argentina for its economic well-being. No matter what happens with MERCOSUR, people from Argentina and Brazil will flock to Punta del Este for vacation, continue trading with the country, and maybe even continue the trend of using Uruguay as a conduit and medium in which to conduct business with the world and among each other because Uruguay is a dream come true when it comes to doing business… At least compared with Argentina and Brazil which notorious for bureaucracy, regulations and high taxes.

Vietnam looks to boost economic ties with Uruguay

[Source] : Vietnam Net Bridge English

VietNamNet Bridge – Uruguay should create favourable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to invest and do business in the country as well as in the Latin American market, President Truong Tan Sang has said.

Sang made the suggestion at a reception in Hanoi on November 6 for visiting Vice President of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay, Danilo Astori, who is also President of the General Assembly and the Chamber of Senators.

The President went on to say that Vietnam is willing to serve as a bridge for Uruguay goods into the ASEAN market.

Apart from further promoting political ties, the two countries should soon implement the agreement signed, paving the way for trade and economic cooperation, especially in agriculture, oil, gas and telecommunications, said Sang.

Agreeing with the President’s proposal on the establishment of an inter-governmental committee at an early date, Astori shared his view that in the short-term, the two countries should implement the Framework Agreement signed in 2007 and forge new deals to boost bilateral economic and trade ties.

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Bolivia seeks access to ASEAN markets

[Source] : VNS

HA NOI (VNS)— Viet Nam will create favourable conditions to help Bolivia enter the ASEAN market, President Truong Tan Sang

Image courtesy of VNS

has said.

Sang made the pledge while receiving visiting Bolivian Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera in Ha Noi yesterday.

President Sang also expressed his hope that the two countries will continue to strengthen co-operation in all fields.

He spoke highly of the visit by Linera, the most senior State leader of Bolivia ever to visit Viet Nam since the two countries set up diplomatic ties.

Linera said the trade relationship between the two sides has seen positive changes but is currently failing to match its potential, adding that one of the main aims of his visit is to seek ways to create a mechanism for increased bilateral trade collaboration.

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Argentina boosts exports to Vietnam

[Source] : Voice of Vietnam VOV

(VOV) – Representatives from 200 Argentinean businesses are expected to visit Vietnam at the end of October to explore

Image courtesy of VOV

opportunities in the Vietnamese market.

An article in the El Cronista newspaper analyzing Argentina’s trade promotion campaign in Vietnam affirmed that the Argentinean Government wants to develop strategic cooperation with Vietnam, considering it one of the most important markets in Southeast Asia.

The paper also quoted Asian economists as saying that Vietnam attaches importance to strengthening relations with Latin American countries, including Argentina.

Vietnam is a promising market for Argentinean businesses, especially food and beverage exporters. The Southeast Asian country can also supply raw materials to Argentina’s industrial sector.

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Transpacific Cooperation in focus: Ecuador, China, Vietnam

Someone once told me in Spanish “todo es simultaneo y la lista es muy larga,” which roughly translates into everything is simultaneous, and the list is very long.” While the front pages of Newspapers around the world and 24/7 News Networks ramp up their coverage of US Election Season, The Middle East, The Eurozone Crisis, and now the fact China and Japan are on the brink of war over small rocks in the ocean they call islands…

Ecuador, China and Vietnam are likewise making it into newspapers and onto news websites. Ecuador and Vietnam are co-hosting for the first time, and helping to organize the China International Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Fair 2012 (CISMEF 2012).

Below I have included a few excerpts and links to articles about this attempt to forge bridges between countries on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.

Expo Special: Ecuador’s hopes high for SME fair

[Source] : China Daily

Co-hosting the China International Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Fair will be an opportunity to boost business ties between China and Ecuador, said Mariella Molina, consul general of Ecuador in Guangzhou.

“It will be a big moment for officials and businesspeople from Ecuador to participate in the upcoming fair, where they will meet their Chinese counterparts. And I do believe it will be a beginning of a greater economic and trade relationship between the two sides,” Molina said.

Co-hosted by Ecuador and Vietnam, the annual SME fair is being held from Sept 22 to 25 in Guangzhou, the capital of South China’s Guangdong province.

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Ecuador Expands Business Prospects with China

[Source] : La Prensa Latina

Beijing, Sep 23 (Prensa Latina) Trade relations between Ecuador and China have entered a new stage with promising prospects that Ecuadorian entrepreneurs are trying to achieve by reaching bigger businesses, Ecuador´s deputy minister of Industry and Productivity, Juan Francisco Beltran, noted on Sunday.

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Vietnam co-hosts SME Fair with China

[Source] : VOV (Voice of Vietnam)

Vietnam and Ecuador have for the first time joined the Chinese Government in co-organising the China International Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Fair 2012 (CISMEF 2012).

Opened in Guangdong City, Guangdong province, on September 22, the four-day fair has seen the participation of more than 3,000 businesses from 31 Chinese provinces and cities as well as others from 30 countries and territories worldwide.

Vietnamese businesses are showcasing their products on an area of 3,000 sq. m at the fair.

At the opening ceremony, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Bien said small and medium-sized enterprises account for over 97 percent of Vietnam’s total businesses, use half of the labour force and contribute about 40 percent of the country’s GDP.

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