Latin American Perspectives on Trade and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation: Policy Priorities and Recommendations for Action

Latin American countries are highly vulnerable to the impact of climate change, including changes in precipitation and increased frequency of extreme weather events, which have a range of impacts on their economies and trade. In this context, these countries are increasingly engaged in efforts to foster an inclusive transition to a low carbon and climate resilient economy. Examples are their participation in the international regime for climate change and the implementation of domestic and regional mitigation and adaptation policies. These have generally focused on reducing deforestation rates…

An in-depth look at the GVC Development Report 2021

The Global Value Chain (GVC) Development Report 2021, the third edition of a biennial series among different partners, explores the long-term trends in GVCs and the factors shaping them. The report breaks new ground by providing an analysis of GVCs beyond manufactured goods, detailing how value-added in GVCs is increasingly generated through intangible products, such as services and intellectual property. The report also highlights that GVCs have proven to be resilient in the face of the challenges posed by the COVID 19 pandemic as well as environmental and geopolitical shocks and sheds light …

Impact of the EU-UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement on the Triangular Supply Chains of Caribbean Exporters

Before the departure of the UK from the European Union (EU), commonly known as Brexit, third-country exporters faced the same customs union rules for shipping goods both to the UK and the EU. Once entered either in the UK or the EU these goods could freely move within the single market. The Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA) between the UK and the European Union, which came into effect in January 2021, has altered these arrangements, affecting the operations of triangular supply chains of ACP countries including 12 Commonwealth members in the Caribbean region. This joint workshop will disc…

Online Course: "Use and interpretation of trade indicators, including Input-Output analysis"

On Friday, December 17th, 2021, the ECLAC Headquarter in Santiago in conjunction with the Caribbean ECLAC Headquarter in Port of Spain gave the Online Course: "Use and interpretation of trade indicators, including Input-Output analysis" for Central Bank economists and trade ministry officials from five Caribbean countries: Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Grenada and Dominica. The workshop was conducted by José Durán Lima, Ira Ronzheimer, Daniel Díaz and Carlos Ludeña of the Regional Integration Unit of the International Trade and Integration …

Reclaiming Industrial Policy for Latin American Development

This particular webinar seeks to find answers if industrial policies are central to achieving a high level of socio-economic development and requires interventions that go beyond macroeconomic stability, the transparent functioning of markets, and an insertion into the world economy based on the promotion of foreign direct investment and indiscriminate trade liberalization. The seminar will promote a discussion oriented towards the definition of a renewed strategy for the region, aimed at promoting sustainable growth through the creation of economic and social value above what accrues from its…

Regional Integration for Economic Recovery

As part of the month of Development in Transition: Dialogues to chart new paths for Latin America and the Caribbean, ECLAC, together with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Commission, organized the Event: Regional Integration for Economic Recovery. The panel was attended by a group of high-level officials from international organisations and regional integration mechanisms in the Americas and the Caribbean. The specialists who participated in the event made an urgent call to boost regional integration to achieve a transformative recovery after th…

Expert meeting: EU FACILITY JOINT RESPONSE TO COVID-19: “Fostering sustainable development models in LAC countries”

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) harder than any other region in the world. The region suffered a 7.7% GDP drop in 2020, and over a million lives have been lost. With around 60% of informal workers and 40% of all workers in the region surviving without any form of social safety net before the pandemic hit, the most vulnerable members of society are bearing the brunt of the crisis today. A series of pre-existing development traps, outlined in the Latin American Economic Outlook 2019, have increased the crisis´ toll in the region. As LAC countries chart the pat…

EU FACILITY JOINT RESPONSE TO COVID-19: “Fostering sustainable development models in LAC countries”

The expansion of global value chains (GVC) has opened new opportunities for economies in transition, which seek to expand and diversify their international trade and gain access to new technologies. However, the current pandemic has left the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean in a very vulnerable position. Against this background, high-level officials from international organizations and regional integration mechanisms will address the following questions: What is the state of intraregional trade within your integration mechanism? What weaknesses has the pandemic exposed? What oppor…

ECLAC’s participation in the launch of a platform that analyzes Global Value Chains

In recent years, studies on global value chains, which depict how interconnected countries are in terms of trade and production, have multiplied. To contribute to this objective, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) presented the Regional Integration and Value Chain Analyzer (RIVA) tool. This initiative was carried out in collaboration with the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FOCALAE) and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). RIVA is an online tool that uses data from the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) Multiregional …

UNCTAD-ECLAC Webinar on COVID-19 and Maritime Transport: Disruptions and Resilience in Latin America and the Caribbean

UNCTAD - ECLAC joint activity under UNDA project: Transport and trade connectivity in the age of pandemics…

Fourth Regional-Global Trade in Value Added (TiVA) initiatives workshop.

Under virtual modality, and under the leadership of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the fourth working meeting of the different value-added trade initiatives (TIVA) was held as a follow-up to the development of the different initiatives. Delegates from different international organizations participated including the World Trade Organization, the United States Department of Commerce, the European Commission's Joint Research Center (EC-JRC), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), as well as the United Nations Regional Commissions for Africa (UNECA), Asia Pacific (ESC…

Global Input-Output Tables: Tools for the analysis of the integration of Latin America with the world

In order to complete the existing multiregional input-output (MRIO) tables in Latin American and Asia Pacific, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), together with the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), assembled Global Input-Output Tables. These include input-output tables previously developed by those institutions: The MRIO by the Asian Development Bank, and the South American I-O Table for 2005, as well as the input-output tables for Latin America and the Caribbean set up for the years 2011 and …

Policy Hackathon on Model Provisions for Trade in Times of Crisis and Pandemic in Regional and other Trade Agreements

This Policy Hackathon is organized as part of a United Nations Initiative on Model Provisions for Trade in Times of Crisis and Pandemic in Regional and other Trade Agreements, in collaboration with ARTNeT, WTO, CUTS and other organizations from civil society, academia and the private sector. In support of “building back better” after COVID-19, this Policy Hackathon aims to gather relevant inputs from all interested stakeholders from government, academia, civil society and private sector to support the development of provisions that could be included in regional and other trade and/or…

A study about the productive integration of Latin America and Asia-Pacific and its challenges.

Initiative on Model Provisions for Trade in Times of Crisis and Pandemic in Regional and other Trade Agreements

Following the raft of ad-hoc trade measures taken by countries in response to the COVID-19 crisis, the United Nations ESCAP secretariat conducted a rapid review of bilateral and regional trade agreement (RTA) texts to see if they provided any guidance on what partners should do to ensure minimal disruption to trade and supply chains in such crises. As expected, RTAs include clauses in order to permit exception to the agreements in time of emergencies; but for the most part they do not feature provisions that could help deal with trade disruption in emergency or crisis situations. To address th…

Project progress presentation: “Value Chain for deeper integration between Latin America Asia Pacific” and “Inequalities in FEALAC member countries: policy formulation”

In the framework of the IX Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) held in the Dominican Republic, on November 9, 2019, The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and The Caribbean (ECLAC) and The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and The Pacific (ESCAP) presented the progress of the main results of the Projects: "Value Chain Development for Deeper Integration of East Asia and Latin America", and "Reducing inequality in FEALAC member countries: innovative policies that leave no one behind”. The authori…

Second High-Level China-Latin America Investment and Cooperation Forum

The Second High-Level China-Latin America Investment and Cooperation Forum, organized jointly by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) and the Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China, will be held at ECLAC headquarters in Santiago, Chile on October 16, 2019.…

Intra- and inter-regional value chains: Latin America and the Caribbean and Asia-Pacific

In the city of Seoul, José Durán, Chief of the Regional Integration Unit of the Division of International Trade and Integration of ECLAC, presented the main results of the project “Value Chain Development for the Deeper Integration of East Asia and Latin America”. The meeting, which took place at the embassy of Peru and was attended by representatives of the Group of Ambassadors of Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC), was convened by Raúl Silverio Silvagni, Ambassador of the Republic of Paraguay in the Republic of Korea and Dean of GRULAC in Seoul. The presentation served as a space for E…

FEALAC’S Trade Facilitation in the context of the Digital Economy

In the framework of the annual FEALAC Working Group Meeting on “Trade, Investment, Tourism and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises”, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship of Argentina co-organized the seminar "FEALAC’s Trade Facilitation in the context of the Digital Economy". The seminar aimed to find ways to improve regional connectivity among FEALAC member states and to nurture business capabilities of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in a digital economy. The meeting focused on the analysis of value chains and th…

Input-Output Tables as a Tool for Trade and Industrial Policy in Latin America and Relations with Asia-Pacific

ECLAC, through its International Trade and Integration Division and in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic, is organizing the International Seminar "Input-Output Tables as a Tool for Trade and Industrial Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean and Relations with Asia Pacific,” and the roundtable “Dynamics of the Intra and Inter Regional Value Chains and Integration in Latin America and Asia.” These activities are taking place under the projects "Input-Output Tables for Industrial Policy in Latin America and the Caribbean”&nb…