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UNCLAS BOGOTA 000720 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ECIN ETRD APECO CO
SUBJECT: LATIN PACIFIC ECONOMIC MINISTERS INTERESTED IN 
HARMONIZING TRADE AGREEMENTS AND ASIA OUTREACH 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED -- PLEASE TREAT ACCORDINGLY 
 
¶1. (SBU)  SUMMARY.  Colombia hosted the "Latin American 
Pacific Basin Initiative Forum" January 29-30 in Cali, with 
participants from 9 of the 11 Latin American Pacific coast 
countries.  The largely symbolic meeting was intended to 
galvanize trade and investment among the Latin Pacific 
countries, and promote a common outreach to the Asian Pacific 
region. Much of the discussion focused on the fledgling port 
and transport infrastructure that plagues the region, and on 
the need to harmonize cumulation/rules of origin in the 
myriad regional and bilateral trade pacts in the hemisphere. 
APEC membership for additional Latin American countries was 
backed, but viewed as only one element of a broader strategy. 
 The closing declaration calls for a working group of vice 
ministers of trade to recommend concrete proposals in support 
of this agenda, and for a second forum to be held in Peru the 
third week of August.   End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U)  Representatives of 9 of Latin America's 11 Pacific 
Basin countries -- including 5 ministers of trade/economy -- 
participated in the two-day forum in Cali (official 
delegation list is attached at Para. 7).  Only Nicaragua and 
Costa Rica failed to send a representative.  The program 
consisted of presentations by the three Latin APEC members 
(Mexico, Chile and Peru) concerning their experiences with 
Asian trade, a discussion of port infrastructure along Latin 
America's Pacific coast led by Jose Enrique Perez of the 
Andean Finance Corporation (CAF), and a review of broader 
Pacific Basin economic trends by Antoni Estevadeordal of the 
Interamerican Development Bank.  The ministers met in private 
to discuss concrete follow-up, and two private sector 
sessions were held to provide recommendations to the 
ministers. 
 
¶3.  (U)  The statistics tell the story.  The 11 Latin Pacific 
countries have a population of 245 million, GDP per capita of 
USD 4,700, and represent 3.5 percent of world trade.  The 15 
Asian Pacific countries have a population of 2.1 billion, GDP 
per capita of USD 15,000, and participate in 28 percent of 
world trade.  Trade between the two regions has been growing 
steadily, albeit from a low base.  From 2000 - 2005, annual 
Latin Pacific exports to the Asia Pacific region grew by 25 
percent to USD 20 billion, while imports skyrocketed by more 
than 100 percent to USD 70 billion.  The majority of Latin 
exports are raw materials, while the majority of Asian 
Pacific exports consist of manufactured goods and technology. 
 Of the 11 Latin Pacific countries, only Chile and Peru enjoy 
a trade surplus with the Asia Pacific region due to their 
mineral exports. 
 
¶4.  (U)  Speakers underscored port and transport 
inefficiencies as a major stumbling block to intra-regional 
as well as Asian trade.  Whereas Chinese port traffic is 90 
percent containerized, Latin Pacific port containerized port 
traffic stands at 40 percent -- another reflection of the 
high commodity content of the export base. 
 
¶5. (U) The IDB's Estevadeordal highlighted the growing number 
of bilateral and sub-regional trade arrangements (the 
"spaghetti bowl") as an additional complication to generating 
efficient flow of goods.  In the private sector session that 
followed, participants called for linkages between existing 
trade arrangements -- especially on rules concerning 
cumulation and rules of origin. 
 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  The benefits of APEC membership for additional 
Latin Pacific countries represented an important -- but not 
sole -- focus of the event.  All speakers made reference to 
the significance of expanded Latin American membership as an 
element of Asian outreach, and support for such membership 
when the current moratorium on new members ends was 
universal.  However, there was no clamor for ending the 
moratorium, and EconCouns was never approached about USG 
policy toward the moratorium.  No mention of APEC was made in 
the final declaration. 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  A ministerial declaration ("Declaration of 
Santiago de Cali") was hammered out at the last moment 
following stalemate over the issue of expanding the forum to 
include other Latin American countries not within the Pacific 
Basin.  It calls for a working group (at the Vice Ministerial 
level) to advance concrete ideas on harmonization of existing 
trade agreements and infrastructure improvements.  The 
declaration also calls for an inventory of regional 
investment agreements and promote cooperation accords with 
Asian Pacific countries.  The ministers announced that a 
second Forum will be held in Lima in the third week of August 
of 2007.  The text of the declaration (in Spanish) can be 
found on the Ministry of Trade website 
(www.mincomercio.gov.co). 
 
¶8.  (U)  Delegation List.  Below are the participants on the 
official delegations: 
 
--Chile:  Carlos Furche, Vice Minister of International 
Economic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Camilo 
Navarro, Chief of the Latin America Department 
 
--Colombia: Luis Guillermo Plata, Minister of Trade, Industry 
and Tourism; Eduardo Munoz, Vice Minister of Trade, Industry 
and Tourism 
 
--Ecuador: Franklin Chavez Pareja, Executive Secretary of the 
Ecuadorian Committee for the Pacific Basin, Foreign Ministry 
 
--El Salvador:  Yolanda Mayor de Gavidia, Minister of 
Economy; Carmen Aida Lazo, Advisor, Ministry of Economy 
 
--Guatemala:    Fernando Sesenna Olivero, Ambassador to 
Colombia 
 
--Honduras:     Elizabeth Azcona Bocock, Secretary of State 
for Industry and Commerce; Marie Dominique Villeda, Director 
General for Foreign Trade 
 
--Mexico:  Luz Maria de la Mora, Chief, International Trade 
Negotiating Unit, Ministry of Economy; Norberto Amador, 
Deputy Director for Colombian Affairs, Ministry of Economy; 
Monica Contreras, Deputy Director for APEC Affairs, Ministry 
of Economy 
 
--Panama:  Alejandro Ferrer, Ministry of Trade and Industry; 
Diana Salazar, Director of International Trade Negotiations, 
Ministry of Trade and Industry; Margorieth Tejeira, Press and 
Public Relations Officer, Ministry of Trade and Industry 
 
--Peru:  Mercedes Araoz Fernandez, Minister of Foreign Trade 
and Tourism; Javier Laulinich Velarde, Director General for 
WTO and International Trade Negotiations, Ministry of Foreign 
 
Trade and Tourism 
 
¶9.  (SBU)  Comment.  The meeting was equally focused on 
intra-regional trade and getting the Latin American house in 
order as it was on reaching out to the Asian Pacific 
countries.  There were no illusions that expansion of the 
Latin America role in the Pacific Basin would be quick or 
easy; rather, all participants recognized that ironing out 
port and transport inefficiencies, and seeking harmonization 
of the myriad intra-regional trade accords, were 
preconditions for Latin America to serve as more than an 
exporter of raw materials.  While the meeting was more 
symbolic than substantive, the fact that the ministers agreed 
on a second forum in a rather short timeframe demonstrates 
their intent to give life to this process.  End Comment. 
 
 
 
DRUCKER