The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, presented today to the Presidents of the Pacific Alliance the preliminary results from the study Opportunities for cooperation among Pacific Alliance member countries for international trade of fishing products, which the United Nations is currently carrying out.
Bárcena participated in the plenary session of the Pacific Alliance’s XI Presidential Summit before presidents Michelle Bachelet of Chile; Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia; Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico; and Ollanta Humala of Peru, in addition to that country’s President-elect Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.
The Pacific Alliance, created in 2011, is a regional integration mechanism formed by Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru that has 49 observer countries. The XI Summit in Puerto Varas was preceded by ministerial and business meetings, in which the presidents of Argentina, Mauricio Macri, and Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solís, also participated.
The countries of the bloc are responsible for 7% of the world’s fishing exports, the working document presented by Alicia Bárcena states. The study analyzes the performance of the fishing industry of the Pacific Alliance’s countries and proposes some joint actions on promotion and trade in the short- and medium-term.
During her presentation, the Executive Secretary highlighted the possibility the countries of the bloc have of exporting fishing products under the Pacific Alliance brand, a model that could be replicated in other sectors through the development of a defined strategy.
Other initiatives examined in the document are related to support projects for artisanal fishing, small-scale aquaculture and the establishment of safety, traceability and environmental sustainability standards.
In that sense, ECLAC pointed out that the recently approved 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development contains several goals related to the sustainability of global fishing and aquaculture.
The study was well received by the heads of state, who asked ECLAC to continue with deeper analyses and proposals.
On this opportunity, Alicia Bárcena also warned of the threats posed by climate change to the Pacific Alliance countries’ coastlines. The Commission, the official said, has developed a line of work on the matter, which includes diverse studies on trends, effects and risks in Latin American and Caribbean coastal areas.
