VANCOUVER, CANADA and SANTIAGO, CHILE – August 14, 2019 – The Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada (APF Canada) and the Fundación Chilena del Pacífico (FunChile) are pleased to announce that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to deepen co-operation to strengthen commercial, economic, and wider social and people-to-people engagement between Canada, Chile, and Pacific Alliance economies.
In the MoU signed on August 9, 2019, the two foundations expressed their intention to co-operate within the scope of their mandates and sphere of competences to promote a deeper understanding of the Canada-Chile relationship and how bilateral relations affect the Pacific region.
As the centres for their countries' APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) and Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) secretariats, APF Canada and FunChile are well positioned to develop programs and research that will enable stakeholders from both countries to develop deeper people-to-people ties between Canada and Chile and to better understand Pacific Alliance and APEC issues. For APF Canada, the new MoU with FunChile represents a strategic addition to its Institutional Partners network of like-minded stakeholders across the Pacific.
“We are thrilled with the signing of this MoU with our colleagues from APF Canada. Indeed, I believe this sort of collaboration is an unmatched way of fostering high-quality, multi-channel interaction between our stakeholders, as well as between us at both foundations. All this with the aim of contributing to improve the knowledge about the longstanding Chile-Canada relationship and the whole potential out of the projection of both countries to the Asia Pacific region, including the Pacific Alliance in South America. We look forward to working closely on a broad variety of meaningful topics”– Loreto Layton, executive director of the Chile Pacific Foundation
“As Canada’s catalyst for engagement with Asia and Asia's bridge to Canada, we are highly looking forward to partnering with the Chile Pacific Foundation to expand our understanding of the Pacific economies and to increase our people-to-people connections in the region. Chile and Canada have one of the most interesting and dynamic trading relationships we have seen and the APF Canada team is looking forward to working with FunChile researchers to broaden our scope and to engage on pressing regional topics.”– Dr. Jeff Reeves, Vice President of Research at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada
More about the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada:
The Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada (APF Canada) is a not-for-profit organization focused on Canada's relations with Asia. Our mission is to be Canada's catalyst for engagement with Asia and Asia's bridge to Canada. APF Canada is dedicated to strengthening ties between Canada and Asia with a focus on expanding economic relations through trade, investment and innovation; promoting Canada's expertise in offering solutions to Asia's climate change, energy, food security and natural resource management challenges; building Asia skills and competencies among Canadians, including young Canadians; and, improving Canadians' general understanding of Asia and its growing global influence.
More about the Fundación Chilena del Pacífico:
Since its foundation in 1994, the Chile Pacific Foundation has played an important role by advocating for Chile's free trade projection towards Asian Pacific markets. To that end, the Foundation has been proactive in promoting a broad array of initiatives to foster the country's economic and overall integration into the Pacific Basin economies. The Foundation, which also headquarters the Chilean Chapter of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), works in close collaboration with the public sector through a number of Government agencies, most notably Chile's General Directorate of International Economic Affairs (Direcon). Hence, the Foundation has encouraged and favored public-private interaction in Chile from the get-go in order to invigorate free trade oriented policies towards the Pacific Basin. Contributing to build over the years a better understanding among local opinion leaders of the Pacific Basin potentialities for trade and economic growth, including 21st Century challenges and opportunities from the new economy, has been a priority for the Foundation as well.
