Turkey valuable trade base for Pacific Alliance

“It's a very clear message [from the alliance],” confirmed Gabriel Duque, permanent representative of Colombia to the World Trade Organization (WTO), in an exclusive interview with Sunday's Zaman.

Representatives from three members of the alliance, Chile, Colombia and Mexico, have already started preliminary work in the İstanbul office to create a structure based on international law which will enable the office to function effectively. Representatives of the alliance countries have also organized joint events to promote themselves in Turkey. The Peruvian representative is expected to join the others in the joint office next year.

Duque, who was in Turkey this week to speak on panel discussions in İstanbul and Ankara about the opportunities the alliance can offer, sees Turkey as a strategic partner. “Turkey is sometimes called a bridge between Asia and Europe, but it's much more than that,” he told Sunday's Zaman after the panel discussion at the Ankara-based Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV).

Turkey, with its vibrant economy, could allow the alliance to enter a large surrounding market, namely Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa, while Turkey may seek to cooperate with the alliance countries to achieve better penetration in East Asian markets, given the solid links countries that are members of the alliance enjoy with this region. “It's perfectly possible,” said Duque, who served as Colombian vice minister of foreign trade from 2009 to August 2013.

Noting that the alliance is also open to applications from other countries, Duque also underlined in his speech at TEPAV that the alliance aims to achieve economic integration but not political union.

The alliance, which was formally launched in Chile in June 2012, was created to promote free trade and economic integration among the member countries, with the ultimate aim of global integration. As part of its efforts to build closer business and diplomatic ties with Latin American countries, Turkey became an observer member of the alliance last year.

The alliance countries have a combined population of 209 million people and a gross domestic product (GDP) of $2 trillion, with an average GDP per capita of $14,712. The alliance's GDP represents almost 36 percent of Latin American and Caribbean countries' total GDP.

Turkey's newly acquired observer status is expected to strengthen political ties with the region and contribute to cooperation, mainly in the areas of trade and investment. Costa Rica is expected to become a member of the alliance soon, while Panama is in line for admission as a full member. Currently, the alliance has 25 observer countries, including China, Australia, the US, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, France and the UK.

The alliance's member countries have recently agreed to eliminate 92 percent of all trade tariffs among member countries in the initial phase, while an additional 7 percent of tariffs will be eliminated within the next seven years.

In the future, Turkey may seek full membership of the organization, as countries which have signed free trade agreements (FTAs) with half of the alliance's full members are entitled to join the organization as full members. As there is already an FTA in place with Chile, once Turkey completes its ongoing negotiations for an FTA with Colombia and Peru, it will be in a position to ask for full membership of the organization.

Turkish Airlines (THY) already flies to Brazil, and flights to Colombia and Mexico are on the company's agenda, meaning Turkey's business ties with the region may well increase substantially in the coming years. The total trade volume between Turkey and the four founding members of the alliance was $3 billion at the end of last year. In the last four years, Turkey, Peru and Colombia have opened embassies in each other's countries, establishing the groundwork for the strengthening of bilateral ties. Turkish citizens can travel visa-free to all member countries of the alliance except Mexico.

Turkey enjoys an important advantage in its dealings with Latin American countries in that there are some people called “Turcos” in certain Latin American countries, whose ancestors emigrated to the continent from the Ottoman Empire. The second and third generations of these immigrants still feel a cultural connection to their Ottoman past.