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by Omar Mendoza, Leng Tong
PUERTO VARAS, Chile, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing 2016 Pacific Alliance Summit, held here until July 1, showed that the bloc is not wavering on its path toward greater commercial integration, facilitating the movement of goods, people and services among Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico.
The heads of state of the four countries bordering the Pacific Ocean, joined by President Mauricio Macri of Argentina as well as by representatives of Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, met here this week to seek further collaboration between the Alliance and the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) which composed of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela.
It is the founding mission of the alliance to seek commercial links with other markets, especially in the Asia-Pacific.
Since its inception in 2011, the bloc has prioritized tariff reductions, and updated sanitary and phytosanitary regulations.
In May 2015, it removed tariffs on 92 percent of all goods exported between its members, and aimed to eliminate all tariffs within 17 years.
This was widely seen as one of the bloc's most important decisions, pointing to the political commitment of its members to full commercial integration among their peoples.
Since 2014, the four countries have acted jointly to increase exports around the world. A joint Colombia-Chile trade office in Turkey opened in 2011, becoming a Pacific Alliance commercial representation in 2014, with a second to follow in Morocco, as well as trade promotion forums held in 16 countries.
The lift of visa requirements for citizens of Alliance members has also allowed for the free movement within the bloc and made job-seeking easier across borders.
The alliance's next move is to facilitate financial integration, through the Latin American Integrated Market (MILA), which united the four countries' stock exchanges in 2010 while allowing them retain their individual brands. The united MILA is Latin America's largest stock exchange, above Brazil's Bovespa.
With around 214 million inhabitants, over a third of Latin America, and accounting for 37 percent of regional GDP, the alliance is the eighth largest economy in the world and the eighth largest exporter. Enditem
