Pacific Alliance, composed of Mexico, Peru,
Chile and Colombia, is currently ranked as the second largest user of the Panama Canal.
"Separately,
Chile
is the third, followed by Colombia as sixth, Peru is eighth and Mexico
is ninth, but collectively they are the
seconds largest user," said Mr.
Arosemena in a forum on the prospects of joining that group, organized by the Inter-American Development
Bank (Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo).
Photo by Juliette Passer, 2013
Recent figures from the Panama Canal Authority indicted that the main user of the Canal is the United States
with 143.5 million tons and the second busiest
is China with 52
million annually, but according to Mr. Arosemena, the Pacific Alliance,
collectively, exceeds China.
"The Pacific
Alliance is all about regional
integration that is booming not only in Latin
America but worldwide," said Arosemena.
The
group emerged in
April of 2011 in order to achieve trade integration agreements based on free
exchange of goods between its
members.
Currently, Costa Rica and
Panama are observers
and candidates to join after completing several processes,
including trade pacts with each other.
Arosemena said that Costa
Rica has already completed trade
negotiations, while Panama
has yet to sign with Colombia and just last
week held the first round of negotiations with Mexico.
The Panamanian official indicated that
for Panama it is important to join
to provide an important platform for
managing logistics for trade; besides
the canal, citing the existence of a trans-isthmus railway
communicating with dynamic ports on both coasts.
