Colombian Foreign Minister Visits Guatemala and Mexico

Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin is set to hold a meeting Tuesday with her Mexican counterpart Luis Videgaray in Mexico City, as both diplomats work to elaborate a joint plan of action to counteract U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policies.

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Topping the agenda are issues of trade, the Pacific Alliance, production chains and immigration, among others topics.

In 2011, Chile, Colombia and Mexico established a trade bloc, called the Pacific Alliance, which Peru later joined.

Trump's withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, has dealt a blow to the Pacific Alliance's plans to work within the TPP's framework and at the same time opened the door to accelerate the region's rapprochement with China.

According to official figures, almost half of promotions to partner reported in 2016 came from Chilean, Colombian, Mexican and Peruvian firms, with firms from the Pacific Alliance members reporting more promotions than their counterparts from the Common Southern Market, or Mercosur.

Holguin arrived in Mexico following a trip to Guatemala, during which she signed cooperation agreements concerning public security, defense, drug trafficking and other social issues. She met with Foreign Minister Carlos Raul Morales and President Jimmy Morales.

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala reported that the visit continued conversations from a previous meeting between the two ministers in the Dominican Republic last month during the Fifth Summit Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, or Celac.

During an address in Guatemala City about peace in Colombia, Holguin said the South American country has looked at Guatemala, which signed peace accords with rebel forces in 1996, as an example of conflict resolution.

"What unites us now is a history of overcoming conflicts through negotiation," she said, "and an impassable attitude to advance through the prosperity of our populations."