Colombia's minister of foreign affairs announced on Thursday that Cali will host the next presidential summit for the Pacific Alliance, a trade bloc including Peru, Chile, Mexico, and Colombia.
Colombia will assume temporary presidency of the Alliance, which was founded in June 2012 in the interest of increasing international commerce, especially with Asia. The summit will be held on May 23 in Cali, capital of the southwestern Valle de Cauca department.
"It is going to be a very important meeting," said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maria Angela Holguin.
Alongside the presidents of member nations, representatives from observer nations will also take part in the summit. Observer nations include Australia, New Zealand, Uruguay, Guatemala, and Canada. Holguin revealed that Panama and Costa Rica will also be present as observers.
Colombia, Chile, Peru, and Mexico eliminated 90% of all trade barriers between their respected countries in the January summit in Santiago, Chile.
That agreement marked a new era of relations between the constituent countries of the Pacific Alliance. Besides improving competitiveness, the Pacific Alliance was created to offset the Mercosur group, which includes Brazil and Argentina. The alliance has a combined GDP of $1.7 trillion dollars, which is equal to 35 percent of Latin America's GDP.
