OREANDA-NEWS. July 17, 2015. During the Tenth Presidential Summit of the Pacific Alliance, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) reaffirmed its commitment to the organization's efforts toward increased trade and integration, and announced details of two projects to support entrepreneurship and innovation in the region.

The presidents of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, meeting in this Peruvian coastal city, expressed their willingness to deepen cooperation among the four member nations of the Pacific Alliance, whose economies account for 38 percent of the region's GDP. 

Before the presidents met, about 350 businesspeople from the four countries participated in the “Business Summit of the Pacific Alliance – Leading the Growth” along with the ministers of trade, the economy, finances, production and education of the four nations in the trade block, which promotes the free circulation across borders of goods, services, capital and people. 

Since the Alliance was established in 2011, its member nations have agreed to eliminate tariffs on all products, de-regulate trade in services and establish rules on the accumulation of origin of goods. They also have eliminated visa requirement for tourists from the four countries and have established joint consulate and trade offices in other regions of the world in order to promote international trade and investment in the Alliance nations. Additionally, they consolidated their stock exchanges into the Latin American Integrated Market, known by its Spanish acronym of MIRA. 

“At a time when other countries are finding it difficult to gather domestic support for the negotiation of trade agreements, these are very significant achievements,” said IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno, who moderated a wide-ranging discussion among the four heads of state as part of the business summit. 

The IDB has actively supported the Alliance since its creation. In Paracas, the Bank announced several projects designed to help companies throughout in the region, especially SMEs.

The IDB's Multilateral Investment Fund (FOMIN) is helping the four countries create the Pacific Alliance Venture Fund. This fund, which when complete could reach \\$100 million, will provide seed capital and invest in new enterprises in the member nations. The fund will be capitalized by the four member-countries of the Pacific Alliance, as well as the private sector and FOMIN. It will be managed by an independent professional administrator. This project is expected to be approved during the second half of this year. 

In addition, FOMIN this week approved technical assistance of \\$1.8 million in support of a nearly \\$4 million effort to establish associations of entrepreneurs around the region, to help them access new opportunities for training and trade. Such E2E associations – the acronym for “entrepreneurs-to-entrepreneurs” – are key to boosting the creation of quality jobs, which help boost economic growth and promote innovation. 

As part of the Alliance's push toward trade integration, it’s the Business Council helped to create the Association of Latin American Entrepreneurs (ASELA) in 2013. The association brings together entrepreneurial associations from Chile, Colombia Mexico and Peru and provides a new reference point in a region that recognizes the fundamental role of entrepreneurship in the growth and development of countries. The FOMIN project is expected to benefit more than 75,000 entrepreneurs throughout Latin America and the Caribbean who may become affiliated with the associations.