8/14/2019 Presidenta de la Fundacin EU-LAC Benita Ferrero-Waldner en Seminario "UE & Alianza del Pacifico Oportunidades

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INAUGURATION SPEECH FOR THE PRESIDENT OF THE EU-LACFOUNDATION, BENITA FERRERO WALDNER, AT THE SEMINAREUROPEAN UNION AND THE PACIFIC ALLIANCE: JOINTOPPORTUNITIES

Hamburg, 6 November 2013

PLEASE CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY UNICAMENTE SER AUTNTICA LA VERSINPRONUNCIADA

Su excelencia Ministra Holgun,

Embajadores,

Autoridades nacionales,

Distinguidos invitados,

Queridos amigos,

Seoras y seores,

Quiero darles una cordial bienvenida a este espacio de reflexin sobre el potencial de unaasociacin an ms estrecha entre la Unin Europea y Alianza del Pacifico.

Es un verdadero honor y placer estar aqu junto a la Ministra Mara ngela Holgunrepresentando a la Presidencia Pro-tempore de Alianza del Pacifico y al representante del BancoInter-Americano de Desarrollo (BID) en Europa y querido amigo, Alejandro lvarez von Gustedten representacin del Presidente del BID, que ha debido viajar al Asia.

Thank you for joining us today, and a special thank to the Inter-American Development Bank forbeing part of this joint effort to promote the potential to enhance and deepen relations between theEU and LAC on the basis of their mutual benefit. Very special thank also to Eurochambres, and theHamburg Chamber of Commerce for their support to this EU-LAC Foundations initiative,attending a request from the Pacific Alliance.

The EU-LAC Foundation seeks to foster mutual knowledge about the Latin American, Caribbeanand Europe with the view to identify and maximise the opportunities laid out by the bi-regional

strategic partnership.

It is in this framework that we have proposed to discuss the EU-Pacific Alliance relationship, andmore specifically joint opportunities to be explored in a number of areas of common interest,including investment and trade in goods and services. These are timely issues for a number ofreasons.

The EU and the Pacific Alliance: Potential Partners in International Insertion

1. A changing global economy

To begin with, EU-Pacific Alliance relations should be considered under the general context of achanging world most notably marked in recent years by the emergence of new concentrations ofpower.

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The emergence of new actors on the world stage has changed and continues to change the worldmap of trade and investment today, as have the economic and financial crises of the last few years,

by leading investors towards the comparatively more dynamic economies of growing regions asAsia and Latin America.

With new actors on the world stage with dynamic economies open for trade, a wider range of

options is increasingly available for countries to diversify their economic relations, contributingthus limiting their exposure to global risks, such as the fluctuation of commodity prices, while alsoallowing them to take advantage of new opportunities, like access to emerging consumer markets.

Furthermore, these changes go beyond what the OECD had once called shifting wealth, as theyalso include new geopolitical alignments and vulnerabilities.

Before this changing scenario, how can we best integrate the global economy? How to takeadvantage of the economic opportunities it offers, while ensuring at the same time sustainabledevelopment and preservation of the shared system of values such as democracy, rule of law,respect for individual freedoms, tolerance and so forth?

2. A similar approach to international insertion with common challenges ahead

Secondly, several strategies have been in fact developed over the past decades to achieve insertionin the global economy.

The complex geometry of the Latin American integration map currently bears witness to thediversity of options present today.

In this regard, the EU and the Pacific Alliance could be said to share a similar approach: both sharegoals, values, and methods for international insertion in the global economy.1

And they do so, as Minister Holgun recently explained to the press, out of a conviction that freetrade and the free circulation of goods, services, [capital] and people contribute to development,2something that Europe has experienced in its integration process.

As partners in international insertion, the EU and the Pacific Alliance stand to benefit both from astrong relationship between its Member States and, ultimately, a connection between the EU, LatinAmerica and Asia via the Pacific Alliance, which could lead to the emergence of jointopportunities, such as the development of global value chains encompassing these geographicalareas3and gaining competitiveness.

On the one hand, the Pacific Alliance comprises young and dynamic economies with anenormous potential for growth and in a strategic positiontowards Asia.

On the other hand, Europe remains the largest single domestic market, an advanced economywith know-how in crucial areas such as innovation, technology, quality education, etc. What ismore, the completion of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership cannot beoverlooked by Pacific Alliance. In this regard, a close and mature relationship between us can only

be beneficial.

1The goals, values and methods of the Pacific Alliance are laid out in articles 2 and 3 of its Framework Agreement.Available online at: http://www.iadb.org/intal/intalcdi/PE/2013/11593.pdf. Regarding shared goals of free circulationof goods, services, capital and people, promotion of economic growth, development and competitiveness, andinternational projection on the EU side, see Consolidation Version of the Treaty of the European Union, Title I: CommonProvisions, Article 3. Available online at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2012:326:0013:0046:EN:PDFConcerning shared values, see also

existing trade agreements with Pacific Alliance Member States, including Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru.2Infolatam (October 16, 2013). Colombia defiende la Alianza del Pacfico de las crticas de Evo Morales.3Jos Antonio Sanahuja (2013). Towards a New Framework of Relations Between the European Union and LatinAmerica and the Caribbean. (25). BBVA (August 22, 2012). Economic Watch: New Pacific Alliance Bloc: Mexico andAndeans look towards Asia. (1) and (4).

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Working together to take advantage of economic opportunities

Ladies and gentlemen,

For economic actors to take advantage of these opportunities and enjoy their full potential, jointwork should be carried out in a number of intertwined areas of common interest, such as a)infrastructure development, b) education, vocational training, research and technology, and c)

support the development of small and medium sized-enterprises (SMEs).

Infrastructure development

Infrastructure development, as recently noted during a conference on Latin American andEuropean infrastructure and integration, in which I participated in Paris, is a key driver ofsustainable development, not only because it facilitates trade, but also because it brings isolatedcommunities into the fold, granting them better access to a diverse set of basic social services andincluding them into modern economy.

The local community in the context of globalization, more then in need to be saved from the

threats of modernity, needs to be part of an open process of territorial development that allows itsown socio-cultural character to project itself from the local towards the global scene, as an essentialopportunity to attain global viability.

But it is not only regarding territorial development where infrastructures are key. Thedevelopment of good-quality infrastructures is needed to attain competitiveness, an inexorablecondition of globalization that demands on both sides of the Atlantic immediate direct responses.These can be pursued through such avenues as international cooperation and public-privatepartnerships.4

Education, vocational training, research and technology

Education, vocational training, research and technology are also key to ensuring sustainabledevelopment insofar as investment in these areas translates into productivity gains andsustainability in the medium to long term, hence, leading to a greater degree of competitiveness onthe world stage.

In this regard, I would like to stress that both the EU and the Pacific Alliance would benefit fromthe development of vocational training programmes. Germany and Austria are good examples ofits success in tackling unemployment and productivity.

Only last month Pacific Alliance countries announced two initiatives in this context, a scholarshipprogram and a network of scientific research on climate change, to whose development the EUcould contribute through the exchange of best practices, considering its experience and the

common interests at stake.5

Support the development of SMEs

Last but not least, supporting the development of SMEs is also essential for sustainabledevelopment and the creation of global value chains, through the establishment of companiesgeared towards the production and export of goods within and between Asia, the Pacific Allianceand the EU.

4In the case of the Pacific Alliance, see Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (February 15, 2013). The Pacific Alliance:A Latin American for Asia Pacific Regional Integration.5El Pas (October 8, 2013). La Alianza del Pacfico: Construyendo un futuro integrado.

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With this goal in mind, the Pacific Alliance is working on a program to increase thecompetitiveness and innovation of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), onwhich it would be interesting to learn more.

The EU-LAC Foundation, for its part, is also working towards this goal by means of a project todraw the industrial map of Latin America & the Caribbean, MIALC(Mapa Industrial de AmricaLatina y el Caribe), and in which all 4 Pacific Alliance Members are included amongst the 9 pilot

countries.6

Infrastructure development, education, research and technology, and supporting the developmentof SMEs are but few areas in which we could work together to take advantage of the opportunitiesthat a strong relationship between the EU and the Pacific Alliance offers.

I trust that today exchange of ideas will be fruitful, allowing us to engage in a longer andproductive discussion about the wider range of opportunities to explore in the future.

Without further ado, it is an honour to pass the floor to her Excellency Minister Holgun.

6The 9 pilot countries include: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay.Concerning MIALC, see EU-LAC Foundation website: http://eulacfoundation.org/news/seminar-latin-america%E2%80%99s-and-caribbean%E2%80%99s-industrial-map-launches-mialc-project