Chile hands over pro tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance to Peru

Chile officially handed over the pro tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance to Peru today, in a ceremony held at the Carrera Building and headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alberto van Klaveren, together with the Undersecretary of International Economic Relations, Claudia Sanhueza.

The authorities from the other three member countries of this regional integration mechanism were also present. Peru was represented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ana Cecilia Gervasi, and the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Madeleine Burns; Colombia was represented by the Deputy Minister of Multilateral Affairs, Elizabeth Taylor; and Mexico was represented by the Director General of Regional American Mechanisms of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Efraín Guadarrama.

It should be noted that on June 28, Chile assumed the pro tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance, with the objective of exercising it for one month and then handing it over to Peru.  "We greatly appreciate the spirit of consensus that prevailed among the four member countries of the Pacific Alliance and we are particularly pleased to be able to transmit this pro tempore presidency to Peru. We are particularly interested in the reactivation of the Pacific Alliance," said Minister van Klaveren.

"We are convinced that the Pacific Alliance is an integration scheme that maintains its validity. It is an integration scheme that aims at the free circulation of goods, services, capital and people among the four member countries. It is an integration scheme that has aroused the interest of the international community, an interest that has been reflected in the observer status of more than 60 countries from different continents and it is an integration scheme that opens new opportunities, new possibilities for all the countries that participate in this scheme", added the minister.

"The occasion that brings together the four member countries shows that the Pacific Alliance is in a new stage, renewing its commitment to regional integration that allows us to face shared challenges," said the Peruvian Foreign Affairs Minister.

Chile-Peru Bilateral Foresight Council

Following the handover of the pro tempore presidency of the Pacific Alliance, Foreign Affairs Ministers Alberto van Klaveren and Ana Cecilia Gervasi signed the Act of Constitution of the Chile-Peru Bilateral Foresight Council, a space for reflection and analysis to identify points of common interest with a vision for the future.

This council is an initiative that responds to a presidential mandate that was adopted at the Binational Summit of Paracas in 2019. The minister explained that this mechanism will allow "both countries to jointly look to the future and jointly face a series of challenges".