Organized by UNCTAD/Division on International Trade in Goods and Services, and Commodities, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and the World Trade Organization (WTO).…
Studies of Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Mexico conducted collaboratively by ECLAC and GTZ point to environmental impacts associated with small and medium enterprises (SMEs), particularly in the manufacturing sector. This impact is essentially local, though it can become significant at the aggregate level, i.e., SMEs are responsible for some of the environmental problems caused by industry as a whole. Though SMEs account for only a small fraction of such problems -at the national level, the effect is often marginal in terms of environmental degradation- the impact may be significant and fairl…
The present level of intra-regional trade of Latin America and the Caribbean in relation to their total exports is still low when compared to the peak of 21.1% registered in 1997, despite its rebound in 2003 and continued recovery into 2004. While this trade holds a high potential for future growth, there are a series of problems to be addressed in order for regional integration to continue on the paths of recovery and deep integration. The countries in the region should keep working on the constraints that its regional integration process continues to suffer from the persistence of non-tariff…
The global economic crisis has put an end to a period of worldwide expansion and halted the integration of Latin America and developing Asia with the international economy. Current and expected economic weakness in the advanced economies has led us to look elsewhere for sources of growth. Emerging economies in Asia and Latin America have increased their contributions to world production, finance, and trade in the past decades. In doing so, the two regions have deepened their economic ties with significant implications for the recovery of their respective economies. In this paper we discuss the…
The liberalization of Maritime Transport is one important element to increase the export competitiveness of a country. In fact, studies remark that, for some countries, the effective rate of protection by the costs of transport is much higher than that of tariffs. One of the most relevant elements in the determination of the costs of maritime transport refers to the efficient management of ports. The global trend towards trade liberalization and integration and economic interdependence led Latin American countries to opt for programs of economic reforms that incorporated the participation of d…
Introduction The Netherlands Antilles is an autonomous entity within the Kingdom of the Netherlands and comprises a federation of five Caribbean islands: Bonaire and Curacao (the Leeward islands) which comprise 80 per cent of the population of 211,000 and Saba, St. Eustatius and the southern part of St. Maarten (the Windward islands). Like the other countries in the Kingdom, it enjoys full autonomy in internal matters as, for example, education, public health, justice and customs. It has a per capita income of about US$ 12,000. The Leeward Islands and the Windward Islands account for a…
Summary Trade between Africa and South America is of relatively minor importance for each region. The main purpose of this report is to determine if a scarcity of maritime transport services could explain this comparative unimportance. More than half of all trade between the two regions is accounted for by just ten specific bilateral flows in petroleum, grain, iron ore, coal, and sugar. Almost all inter-regional trade moves by sea, mostly by non-liner charter shipping services. Trade between Africa and South America is subject to relatively low freight rates, mainly due to the type of produ…
Abstract This paper analyses the competitiveness and technological structure of manufactured exports by leading Latin American and Asian economies for 1980-97. It explains East Asian performance with reference to the strategies adopted for technological development, focusing on foreign direct investment strategies. It particularly draws on the experience of Singapore, the countgry that has used FDI to promote industrial growth and technological upgrading more effectively than any other developing country. The paper starts by analysing the nature of technological activity in developing countrie…
The paper analyses the main features of trade agreements covering services concluded between Latin American countries and developed country partners. The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is devoted a full section with a view to setting out key analytical parameters for the ensuing approach to individual agreements with the United States, the European Union and Japan. By means of a very detailed comparison across agreements, a typology is established for classifying specific elements with relation to whether they simply mirror GATS provisions (GATS-neutral ), go beyond GATS pr…
Introduction The study of trade and integration (LC/CAR/G.681) between the Netherlands Antilles and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was undertaken to assess the nature and extent of trade between the two groups of countries as well as the institutional framework for facilitating such trade. In addition, the study considered integration options for increasing trade, in particular Netherlands Antilles exports to CARICOM. Assessment of the export structures of the two groups revealed similarity in goods and services produced but a more diversified export structure in the case of CARICOM. Th…
For most developing countries, open regionalism has emerged as quite a sensible response to the undergoing turbulent and asymmetric process of economic globalization. Moreover, the successful experience of the countries which are now part of the European Union, has made regional integration an increasingly attractive option for the developing world. Whenever regional integration is intended to go beyond merely a free trade agreement, macroeconomic coordination becomes a key issue. Theoretically, the underlying idea of the macroeconomic coordination is the interdependency between econo…
Abstract This document provides an overview of trade relations between Asia and the Pacific and Latin America and explores the possibilities for expanding the modalities of economic relations between the two regions. The analysis covers 12 countries in Asia and Oceania and 11 members of the Latin American Integration Association (LAIA). Interregional cooperation in trade and investment has been on the agendas of countries in both regions for some time. It is often expressed that the present economic relations between the two regions do not reflect the potential for interregional trade and inve…
Los servicios modernos basados en el conocimiento, es decir, aquellos que utilizan alta tecnología y/o cuentan con mano de obra calificada que se requiere para incorporar las innovaciones tecnológicas, son fundamentales para promover la transformación productiva de las economías. El aporte de este tipo de servicios al desarrollo sostenible de los países será el centro de los debates del Foro Global de Servicios 2018, que se realiza el 13 y 14 de septiembre en Buenos Aires, Argentina. El Foro, que se lleva a cabo de manera conjunta con el séptimo encuentro anual de la Red Latinoamericana y del …
La presente publicación es un aporte de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), en respuesta a la solicitud del Gobierno de México, al quinto Foro Ministerial del Arco del Pacífico Latinoamericano y complementa el informe previo presentado a la cuarta reunión de dicho foro celebrada en Santiago en octubre de 2008. Este documento tiene por objeto brindar a los gobiernos una perspectiva actualizada del impacto de la crisis financiera internacional, tanto en los países asiáticos como en los latinoamericanos, sus implicancias para los futuros vínculos económicos y comerci…
For many countries, the acceleration of integration into the global economy and multilateral trading system provides an opportunity to access a wider range of goods and services as well as export markets, increasing their economic incomes, and improving the welfare of the citizenry. In particular, preferential trade agreements tend to increase export market access opportunities for the agro-industrial products of developing countries. While increased market access offers many opportunities for enhancing the economic growth of exporting countries, developing countries are often unable to seize…
In March 2010, negotiations aimed at enlarging the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPP) were launched. Nine countries from Asia, Oceania and the Americas currently participate in them. The United States, which in practice has assumed a leading role, has stated that this process has the ultimate goal of transforming the TPP in a platform for large-scale trans-Pacific economic integration. It has also expressed that the enlarged TPP should be a high-quality, 21st century agreement. For the current two Latin American participants (Chile and Peru), as well as for…
This publication is a contribution by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) to the analysis of trade and investment relations between the United States of America and Latin America and the Caribbean, on the occasion of the visit of President Barack Obama to Brazil, Chile and El Salvador in March 2011. The early years of this new decade have brought good news for Latin America and the Caribbean. The region weathered the international crisis with unprecedented resilience and emerged from it sooner and more strongly than the developed economies. It grew by 6%…
The value of regional goods exports will rise 9.7% in 2018, registering a second straight year of growth after the notable decline seen between 2012 and 2016, according to the latest projections from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), released today in Mexico City. This increase can be broken down into a 7.6% increase in prices and a 2.1% rise in volume, ECLAC indicates in its annual report International Trade Outlook for Latin America and the Caribbean 2018, presented at a press conference by the United Nations regional organization’s Executive Secretary, Ali…
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) estimates the growth in the value of regional exports at 20% in 2022, driven by a 14% rise in prices and an expansion of 6% in exported volumes. These are the figures reported by the United Nations organization in its latest flagship annual report published today in a press release. In the report International Trade Outlook for Latin America and the Caribbean 2022, the Commission also indicates that the value of regional goods imports increased by 24%. Like exports, the bulk of the increase in regional import value is attribu…
La visita que inicia esta semana el Primer Ministro de China, Li Keqiang, a Brasil, Chile, Colombia y Perú marca un nuevo hito en la profundización de las relaciones económicas, políticas y de cooperación entre América Latina y el Caribe y China. La visita del Primer Ministro Li y el discurso que dirigirá a la región desde la CEPAL el 25 de mayo se enmarcan en un esfuerzo sostenido por parte de China de impulsar un camino conjunto, desde que en 2008 este país reconoció el carácter estratégico de la relaciones con nuestra región en su Libro Blanco (el documento formal donde consigna su pol…