Good morning, Mr. Chair and honourable members of the committee. Thank you for inviting the Embassy of Colombia to share our government's view on the potential agreement between Canada and the Pacific Alliance.
As most of you know, the Pacific Alliance, after receiving statements of interest for deepening trade ties from Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Singapore, is currently in the midst of negotiations that should lead to agreeing upon a series of FTAs that the Pacific Alliance will eventually have with each potential associate member.
Indeed, the Pacific Alliance is a market of more than 220 million consumers and is the world's seventh-largest economic bloc. It accounts for 34% of the GDP of Latin America and the Caribbean, and concentrates 41% of the FDI in the region.
The figures corresponding to Colombia speak for themselves. In 2017, bilateral trade amounted to $1.1 billion U.S., and Canadian investment in Colombia in 2016 was the largest by a foreign investor that year. In fact, Colombia's foreign investment in 2017 continued to increase for the seventh straight year.
It is important to note that the objective of negotiations is the association of the candidates to the Pacific Alliance and that the Pacific Alliance mandate is not to divert from the framework of its integration mechanism and existing trade protocols. Having said that, I would like to briefly touch on how the Pacific Alliance, by expanding trade opportunities and promoting deep integration, brings benefits that are very much aligned with Canadian views and priorities.
Let's start with gender. Since its creation in 2012, the Pacific Alliance has been committed to including gender as a crosscutting element, establishing a working group that incorporates gender in all the programs of the mechanism. For instance, under the trade promotion component, the alliance has a very successful businesswomen's forum as well as a community platform for female entrepreneurship.
From the Colombian perspective, a benefit to be gained, for example, is the effective integration in global value chains. We consider that cumulation of origin in sectors like textiles and apparel would not only increase trade but would also provide more opportunities for women in targeted regions highly affected by the conflict in Colombia.
With respect to environment, Canada and the Pacific Alliance members have advanced in domestic ratifications of the Paris Agreement. Canada is well known for its global leadership at home and abroad to fight climate change, which means that we all share the same concerns. This represents an opportunity to create a space for dialogue and debate on specific actions and strategies for regional economic integration in a sustainable way. Co-operation and lessons learned from Canada to embrace climate change will be beneficial for the region.
There are other benefits for Canada. The Pacific Alliance has accomplished a very ambitious agenda in a very short time. In addition to tariff elimination, the alliance is moving towards financial integration, pension mobility, and fiscal transparency among the four countries. The creation of the Pacific Alliance venture capital fund facilitates financing for SMEs.
In this context, existing Canadian co-operation is focused on strengthening the export capacity of SMEs, especially in the agriculture sector. From the Colombian point of view, Canada is already deeply involved in several initiatives that aim at helping market-driven co-operative development among farmer organizations. These initiatives promote governance, better opportunities, and higher income for small farmers, especially in communities and areas greatly affected by the conflict.
To conclude, I would like to refer to a recurrent topic in discussions about Colombia. After more than four years of negotiations of a peace agreement, the Colombian government is putting an end to a 50-year conflict that caused 220,000 deaths, of which more than 80% were civilians. During the past 50 years, more than six million people were displaced, 25,000 were kidnapped, and 27,000 went missing.
Although sometimes the news might not be encouraging, the final agreement signed with the FARC strengthens and improves the legislation and institutional efforts undertaken by the state to ensure the protection of human rights through public policy, reparation of victims, protection measures, and fight against impunity. In fact, Colombia's homicide rate is at a 40-year low.
Thanks again for the opportunity to share this information with you.