Rising concentration in Asia-Latin American value chains: Can small firms turn the tide?

Dynamic Asia has overtaken the European Union as Latin America and the Caribbean’s second largest export market, after the United States. However, the region’s exports to Asia remain concentrated in few commodities involving a small number of large firms. This book explores the present and future scope for the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in biregional trade and value chains and the measures that can be taken to make those chains more inclusive and sustainable. SMEs have a low direct presence in the region’s export flows and their participation in the supplier net…

Regional integration in Latin America, globalization and South-South trade

Summary The first section sets out the historical background to the features of regional integration in Latin America between 1960 and 1990. The integration style of this region reflected the protected development models of the period, and developed slowly during the years 1960-1980. The period 1980-1990, known as the lost decade in Latin America, is then examined, bringing to light on the one hand the retreat of economic integration in the region and on the other the beginnings of a process of political democratization which was to set the stage for renewed progress towards integration …

Strengthening biregional cooperation between Latin America and Asia-Pacific: the role of FEALAC

The increasing prominence of developing countries in the world economy reects not only their economic dynamism but also stronger links through increased South-South trade, investment and cooperation. Developing countries in both Latin America and East Asia must act proactively to prepare themselves for this new scenario, adjusting their policies and strategies so as to take advantage of the growing potential of South-South links. In this regard, authorities from both regions should redouble their efforts to identify and capitalize upon their potential complementarities, by creating biregional …

Integration in Latin America - Trends and Challenges

Regional trade agreements have had a significant presence in the design of international and productive policies in Latin American and Caribbean countries since the early 1950s. Fifty years later, the region has not reached the degree of economic inter-relation found, for instance, in Western Europe, but the concern with promoting regional integration has been a tradition in an impressive amount of speeches and declarations by policy makers in the last decades. The weakening of multilateral negotiations and the multiplicity of bilateral agreements with countries in other regions might affect r…

CEPAL propone fortalecer la cooperación América Latina - Asia del Este

(14 de junio 2013) La CEPAL propuso una serie de recomendaciones para fortalecer la cooperación América Latina -Asia de Este y para aprovechar el creciente potencial del comercio Sur-Sur, en uno de los más recientes estudios del organismo, presentado en una reunión ministerial que concluyó este viernes en Indonesia. La VI Reunión Ministerial el Foro de Cooperación América Latina - Asia del Este (FOCALAE), que tuvo lugar en Bali, durante los días 13 y 14 de junio, reunió a las autoridades gubernamentales de 36 países de América Latina y Asia del Este en un diálogo "región a región". "La crecien…

Taller de trabajo: Implementación de los Comités Nacionales de Facilitación del Comercio: avances y desafíos en los países de América del Sur

La reunión servirá como un foro para compartir experiencias entre funcionarios gubernamentales de países sudamericanos que han participado en el establecimiento y funcionamiento de los Comités de Facilitación del Comercio tal como dispone el Acuerdo de Facilitación del Comercio de la OMC. El objeto de este dialogo es de identificar buenas prácticas, factores de éxito, problemas encontrados y cómo estos están siendo enfrentados por los distintos países. …

Latin American South-South integration and cooperation: from a regional public goods perspective

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…

Latin America and the Caribbean’s Foreign Trade Will Grow in 2018 Amid Global Tensions that Require Greater Regional Integration

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…

Experts Analyse Policies for Overcoming Inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean

(17 December 2012) Why is Latin America and the Caribbean still the world's most unequal region, despite the fact that most of its countries are experiencing steady economic growth? The persistent inequality in the region and the apparent lack of specific policies aimed at reducing the income distribution gap are some of the issues tackled in the latest issue of the CEPAL Review, which is available online from today. This issue (Nº 108) of the main academic publication of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) includes 10 articles on various economic and social top…

Relaciones económicas entre América Latina y el Caribe y China: oportunidades y desafíos

El presente documento ha sido preparado por la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), con ocasión de la visita a su sede del Presidente de China, Xi Jinping, el 22 de noviembre de 2016. En él se abordan, desde la mirada regional, los principales desafíos que enfrenta China en el marco del proceso de reformas de su modelo de desarrollo, se presenta un panorama actualizado de las relaciones comerciales y de inversión entre China y América Latina y el Caribe, y, finalmente, se abordan las perspectivas y desafíos de la cooperación entre América Latina y el Caribe y China en lo…

IT enabled services in the post-pandemic economy new opportunities for relations between India and Latin America

During the last few decades, India’s trade with the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries has grown substantially, especially in the area of Information Technology (IT) services. The definition of IT services now includes a plethora of IT-enabled services (ITeS) directed to specific sectors, including Agri-tech, Fin-tech, Health-tech, manufacturing and mining-based services, as well as e-commerce. This sector has attracted significant Indian investment in the region. Over the last decade, the share of the IT sector in total Indian Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the region has nearly…

Brazil and India: two BRICs as a "building bloc" for South-South cooperation

Given the risks the world economy is still facing and the ascendancy of Brazil and India as major growth poles of the global economy, government authorities in Latin America and the Caribbean should redouble their efforts to identify and capitalize upon the potential complementarities created by greater integration with the BRICs. In view of the inter-industrial nature of trade between India and Latin America including Brazil, the region should seek to create partnerships between its firms and successful Indian companies, in order to gain access to supply chains that produce more complex, tech…

The potential for hub ports on the Pacific coast of South America

The external trade of a country is closely linked with its geographical location, with the transport services that cover the distance to markets, and the ports through which that trade passes. Recent advances in maritime transport, the growing international economic integration, and the privatization of ports in the countries on the Pacific coast of South America have given rise to expectations that ports could be developed that concentrate both domestic cargo and that of neighbouring countries for its subsequent redistribution: what are known as hub ports . The main conclusion of t…

Korean OFDI: investment strategies and corporate motivations for investing abroad

International flows of capital in the form of foreign direct investment have become an important means of promoting economic development in many countries. The spread of globalization and the activity of transnational corporations have been driving forces behind these flows have already been adequately analyzed. An important new phenomenon of recent decades is the rapid increase in the outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) flows from developing countries. Much less attention has been paid to outward investment by developing countries, mainly because it was negligible until recently.OFDI fro…

Visita del Primer Ministro de la República Popular China, Wen Jiabao