The government of the Republic of Colombia, duty president of the Pacific Alliance, announced that Italy’s request for Observer status had been accepted. Our country’s candidacy was submitted by Minister Bonino to her Colombian colleague María Ángela Holguín and strongly supported by Under-Secretary Giro on his latest mission to Mexico and Per.
The Pacific Alliance is a regional trade pact whose signatories include Peru, Mexico, Colombia and Chile, to which Costa Rica and Panama are soon to be added. Its aims are mainly economy-based, in that it seeks to promote free trade among its members, who have also, with this in mind, signed bilateral free trade agreements. Collaboration, however, is not limited to economic cooperation but is gradually spreading to other sectors.
Under-Secretary Giro commented on the news as follows: “Acceptance of our candidacy is cause for satisfaction both for Italy and for our foreign minister, who has thus seen her efforts rounded rewarded. Italy’s admittance as an observer of the Alliance sessions is a clear sign of the importance our country attributes to the various regional and sub-regional integration processes under way in Latin America. The Pacific Alliance has distinguished itself in recent years for its remarkable vitality and its success in uniting several of the most open and dynamic Latin American economies, which are looking to Asia without neglecting their solid ties with Europe. Alliance observers before Italy’s entrance already numbered 18, among which the U.S., China, Japan, South Korea, France, Spain, Portugal, Canada, Australia and Ecuador, and our request was accepted along with those of Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
