The Biden administration says 11 countries in the Western Hemisphere have initially signed up into the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity, in what officials called a “historic” initiative to drive economic growth and cooperation in the region. “We view it as a historic new initiative to drive economic growth in the hemisphere, and tackle the core issues that will define the coming decades and galvanize greater economic cooperation in our hemisphere,” a senior administration official told reporters Thursday. The group of countries joining the partnership — Barbados, Canada, Chile, Col…