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SANTIAGO, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Chile eyes diversity while striving to boost the Pacific Alliance, Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz said on Sunday, three days prior to a summit of the four-member trade bloc in Chile.
Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, which all border the Pacific Ocean, have economic, cultural and historic links with the Atlantic countries and for that reason, they had proposed convergence when the bloc was first formed in April 2011, Munoz told local media.
"Obviously, it makes sense to strengthen the alliance if there are new countries interested in getting closer to it. Recently we approved Argentina's application to become an observer country," the diplomat said, adding that there is growing interest from Brazil.
Uruguay and Paraguay are already observers.
Presidents of the four member countries will participate in the upcoming summit, while Argentine President Mauricio Macri will attend as a special guest.
When asked about political changes in several countries within the region, the Chilean minister assured that "our approach of convergence in diversity was made regardless of ideologies or economic models, and long before these political changes."
Munoz said joining the Pacific Alliance "favors concrete and effective economic integration and is not purely rhetoric."
"We propose a pragmatic dialogue between the region's main integration blocs, particularly the (Pacific) Alliance and Mercosur (the Southern Common Market, which groups Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela and Brazil), without distracting them from their respective agendas and state of progress," Munoz explained.
The Pacific Alliance summit will be held in Puerto Varas, around 1,000 km south of Santiago, from Tuesday to Friday.
The Pacific Alliance has a total population of over 210 million and its gross domestic product represents over a third of Latin America's total.
