Comunidad del pacífico en perspectiva - Volumen 2

LA CoMUNIDAD DEL PAciFICO EN PERSPECrIVA I F. Orrega Vicuña tance to the South Pacific regíon has been increasing recently also. Like a number of Pacific Rim countries, Canada is both a deve· loped and a developing country. This should not be lost sight .of. We are large importers of capital and technology, which has al· lowed us to create a respectable industrial and financial base on which our generally hign standard of living in turn has been built. Since we produce more than we consume each year, we must exporto Canada has therefore been a strong supporter oí measures, since the end of World War JI, to liberalize international trade as much as possible. As regards the future, as the Foreign Policy Review 01 1970 put it: "With a vast and val'ied potential, the Pacific al'ea offcrs great challenges and opportunities for the growth of economic and cOl11mercial exchanges. The extent to which this potential can be devcloped will depend not only on deliberate and concer.ted efforts to understand and cater for the needs of Pacific regioll markets but on the establishment of aclimate which mini. mileS colifliet and instability". Given the wealth oí different cultures and civilizations in the area which we are studying. the disparate levels of development there - from the very richest to the very poorest; the most to the least developed the various types o[ government current in the region based on different polítical philosophies. the basic common denominator underlying the future of the area would seem to me to be economic. Most of the associations, whether governmental or private, which have come into existence in the region recently, have had this factor in common. Canada ís a member of many of ttiem. (PAFTAD, by the way. is scheduled to hold one of its next meetings ín Vancouver). Latín American Pacific Rim countries might con– sider taking part more actively in some of these associations. Sorne thought has been given currentIy to the possibility of a Pacific free trade area and also to an organization for Pacific trade and deve– lopment. Both these possibilities might be worthy of further study by Latin American countries borrlering on the Pacifico The two UN bodies: The Economic Commission for Latin America and The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (CEPAL 96