President advocates Pacific Ocean free trade deal

President Michelle Bachelet personally led Chile’s delegation at the 17th Annual Summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), which concluded Sunday in Singapore. 

At the summit Chile advanced its goals of strengthening ties with the other 20 member countries of the alliance and securing agreements to begin negotiating an Asia-Pacific free trade zone. 

The goal of promoting this free zone seemed dubious at first, due to U.S. reluctance, but after the P4 (Brunei, New Zealand, Singapore, and Chile) discussed it with U.S. President Barack Obama, he showed willingness to proceed with the talks. For the Bachelet administration, creating a bridge between Latin America and Asia with US cooperation is a major policy ambition. If a free trade zone is established, Chile hopes to eventually extend the region to parts of Latin America that don’t touch the Pacific. 

The APEC summit also called for strengthening economic cooperation within the Asia-Pacific region. There was a strong anti-protectionist sentiment among the attendees, who rejected all measures that obstruct trade. Looking toward the future, APEC members discussed how to overcome the difficulties of the current economic climate to produce a new model of economic integration that promotes long-term growth in all regions and countries. The goal is also to achieve a measure of economic equality through free and fair trade and thus contribute to development.

“Protectionism is not the solution to the crisis. On the contrary, it will make recovery more difficult,” said Bachelet at the conference.

The APEC members also advocated that the costs of doing business across borders, which have dropped 5 percent in recent years, be reduced by 25 percent by 2015. These costs include the bureaucratic fees required for setting up foreign companies, trading goods and services, transferring credit, obtaining licenses, and registering contracts. 

The 21 APEC member countries represent 40.5 percent of the world’s population, and their economies comprise 54.2 percent of the global GDP and 43.7 percent of international trade. 

Following the APEC meeting, Bachelet traveled Monday to Italy and the 35th World Summit on Food Security, held by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. 

Delegates at the FAO summit discussed food shortages, production problems, genetically modified food, and how to combat hunger in various regions of the world. The FAO now estimates the number of people suffering from hunger may soon increase by 100 million, to total over one billion people, or one sixth of the world’s population. 

Bachelet spoke fervently on increasing resources to confront food security concerns. “Just as the world had the capacity to spend trillions of dollars to avoid economic collapse,” she said, “now it is necessary for a similar effort to avoid social collapse. The most serious and alarming dimension of this historical moment is, without a doubt, hunger.”

She mentioned the effects of protectionism, a theme that was discussed heavily at the APEC conference she attended the previous day, on food security in developing countries. “Protectionism expresses itself with a particular force in agricultural markets, and its effect on the agriculture of developing countries is simply insurmountable,” she said. 

SOURCES: LA NACION, LA TERCERA, FAO.ORG, APEC.ORG
By Meera Pandit ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )