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Six seminars to promote investment in the remainder of 2012 and another ten in 2013 in European and Asian countries are part of the activities that PROCOLOMBIA will carry out, together with the promotion companies of the nations that make up this block.
The group comprised of Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru moves forward with its commercial strategies to increase exports, and to attract investment and tourism. The Alliance will now have a corporate council and next year, its first business macro-round.
The creation of the Pacific Alliance as economic block has awaken the interest of foreign entrepreneurs, particularly from Asia. It was so demonstrated in the recent investment seminar that PROCOLOMBIA, together with the promotion agencies of the countries of this block, arranged in Shanghai (China), and which resulted in a visit that will be made in the upcoming months by Chinese entrepreneurs interested in exploring the investment options that Colombia offers in agroindustry, services and manufacture.
150 Chinese entrepreneurs and members of the Chinese government attended to the seminar. The achievements include the upcoming visit in November of the representatives of the firm China Great Wall Asset Management Corporation to learn the opportunities in the agroindustrial sector.
On the other hand, Inspur is interested in creating data ‘storage clouds’ China Telecom Services wants to explore the telecommunications market and, lastly, Weichai Power, manufacturer of diesel engines, wants to explore the country for investment opportunities and Envision, on the other hand, seeks to associate for the construction of a wind power generation plant.
As a result, meetings were also scheduled with IBM China, Higer Bus and Sieyuan (electric power company). Contact was made with the firm China Industrial Overseas Development and Planning and relations were strengthened with the Ministry of Chinese Trade, the Chinese Development Bank and the Exim Bank.
First Business Macro-Round of the Pacific Alliance
The seminar of the Pacific Alliance in Shanghai is in line to the seminar held in the past few days in Seoul, and the participation of the Pacific Alliance in the Fine Food 2012 in India and is part of an activity schedule that the four countries are executing.
In May of the following year, the countries of the Pacific Alliance will hold the first business macro-round that will add to the joint participation at the most renowned international fairs and seminars to attract investment and promote international tourism to this economic block.
Within the framework of this Alliance, the Corporate Council commenced its operations, comprised of 16 top level executives from Mexico, Chile, Peru and Colombia to support and to get the government closers to the business sector. They will be responsible for making recommendations to allow improving the integration and cooperation among member countries.
Mario Hernández, President of Marroquinería Carlos Ardila Gaviria, deputy council of Organización Ardila Lülle and Juan Camilo Nariño, Vice President of Asociación Nacional de Industriales (ANDI) are the country’s representatives to this council.
“The Pacific Alliance is nowadays the ninth economy worldwide. In 2011, it recorded the second highest growth, making it appealing for entrepreneurs, specially Asian, and for multilateral agencies like the IDB and the WEF, which expect to participate in joint activities”, indicated María Claudia Lacouture, President of Proexport.
The Macro-Round decision was made in the II Summit of the Pacific Alliance, with the attendance of the chancellor, María Ángela Holguín and the minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism, Sergio Díaz-Granados.
Likewise, activities were scheduled, focused not only on strengthening commercial relations with Asia Pacific, but also with other regions. “It was a very productive meeting. We will jointly participate in events in India, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Arab Emirates, Japan and China. Just in terms of investment, we went from having one seminar scheduled in China to having six in various countries for the remainder of 2012 and ten for 2013”, explained the President of Proexport.
For the strengthening of exports of member countries, the Pacific Alliance created a product that will be jointly presented at international fairs like SIAL, Anuga, Seoul Food and Hotel. “In the SIAL fair to be held in Paris next October, we will launch canasta gourmet, comprised of top quality food and beverages produced in Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Peru, which will be supplemented with recipes for consumers to know how to use them in their daily meals”, indicated Lacouture.
Likewise, the Alliance is working on the identification of the fruit supply for certain markets, in order to offer buyers a variety of supplementary products for longer periods of the year. A sector that also offers supplementing opportunities, not only in the Alliance countries, but also in third markets, is the services sector.
More Investment
The Pacific Alliance, an initiative led since last year by the Presidents of the four countries, seeks the close integration of their peoples and economies. It has a duly established entity and logotype in Spanish, English, Mandarin and French, offering proximity with entrepreneurs.
Likewise, it focuses its efforts on attracting additional foreign investment. Prior to the seminar in Shanghai, in Seoul, more than 150 Korean entrepreneurs became aware of the opportunities that the four countries offer in terms of infrastructure, energy, goods and oil services, mining, information technologies, biotechnology and tourism, among others, in an event supported by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) and the Inter-American Development Bank.
In the following months, similar seminars are foreseen in Tokyo, Singapore, Beijing and Paris. In 2013, seminars will be held in Arab Emirates, Russia, Mumbai, London, Madrid and Tokyo, among other places.
Based on the Alliance figures, this block was the sixth most appealing destination to capture Direct Foreign Investment (DFI) and reported the highest growth in 2011. It has signed free trade agreements with 55 countries that is to say, it gains access with benefits to a market that represents 84% of the global GDP and accounts for more than three million people, representing 46% of the global population.
Agreement to Attract Tourism
Last year, the Alliance received more than 30 million foreign visitors who may enjoy the great potential of the product supply, which meets to the global trends. To increase this joint wealth, the Ministers of Trade of the four countries signed the Multilateral Tourism Cooperation Agreement, which will contribute to promoting travellers’ flow among member countries and developing joint activities at strategic markets, like the Asian.
The above implies designing promotion strategies, especially in adventure and nature tourism, sports tourism, sun and beach, culture and events and convention tourism.
“Tourism represents nearly 50 percent of our service sector anything we do in terms of air connectivity will result in better prices, higher and increased competition, and will imply a major benefit to consumers, as there will be more visitors and jobs in all of our economies. We can do much more to increase the number of visitors among our countries”, affirmed the Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism, Sergio Díaz-Granados.
PA with Office in Turkey
In addition to the joint participation on impact activities for entrepreneurs, the Alliance will be permanently present in strategic places for (sic). Turkey will be the pilot in an office that, in the past months, has had representatives from PROCOLOMBIA and Prochile, where the Financial Journal classified this action as the “the second best exporting initiative of the country”.
In the future, the Pacific Alliance would also be present in Africa and Australia.
