Report to the CDCC: Review of ECLAC/CDCC Programme of Activities for the 2002-2003 Biennium

Trumping the NAFTA renegotiation An alternative policy framework for Mexican-United States cooperation and economic convergence

The effects of globalization and regional integration have not worked well for many Americans and Mexicans. The objective of this document is to assess the proposals of the Trump administration for revising NAFTA, the responses of the Mexican government, and progressive alternatives to both. Therefore, this paper will address what kind of economic policies are needed to achieve more inclusive and sustainable growth in both Mexico and the United States, given their current degree of integration and the changing character of global production and technology.…

Information technology for development of small and medium-sized exporters in Latin America and East Asia

This report is the product of a research project titled Comparative Study on East Asian and Latin American Information Technology (IT) Industries , carried out in 2004 and 2005 by the International Trade and Integration Division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago, Chile, in collaboration with the Institute of Developing Economies Japan External Trade Organization (IDE/JETRO) in Chiba, Japan. The project it was financed by the Thematic Trust Fund - Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Development, United Nations D…

Digital Trade Regulatory Review for Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean. June 2024

As a preliminary step towards deepening understanding of the digital trade policy environment in the Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean regions, this report offers an overview of the digital trade policy landscape in the three regions. It presents aggregate findings based on the unified frameworks utilized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). This framework is known as the Region…

Incorporation of special and differential treatment in international trade agreements and the implications for Caribbean economies

The provision for special and differential treatment favoring developing economies in multilateral trade agreements recognizes that countries compete on an unequal footing. Special and differential treatment can be traced to early development theories and to the reports of the preparatory committee for the formation of the International Trade Organization (ITO). The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT, 1947) addressed developing countries' needs for an asymmetrical treatment in international trade relations. Later on, the incorporation of Annex IV to the GATT (1964) p…

The United States and Central America proposed Free Trade Agreement implications for the Caribbean region

Analysis of trade flows between Puerto Rico and CARICOM and prospects for integration

Puerto Rico and Caribbean Community (CARICOM); Caribbean countries share important common characteristics. They are open economies and while their trade specialization patterns are heterogenous, historical, institutional and geographical factors have shaped export and import linkages that are closely tied to those of the United States and Western Europe. CARICOM Caribbean economies and Puerto Rico also adopted, early on, a common approach to development, that of 'industrialisation by invitation'. Its main elements included fiscal incentives, the attraction of foreign direct investmen…

Central American Isthmus: economic evolution during 2005 and perspectives for 2006 (final evaluation)

1. Rasgos generales de la evolución reciente La actividad económica en el Istmo Centroamericano registró en 2005 una expansión igual a la del año anterior (4%), apenas por debajo del promedio de América Latina y el Caribe (4,3%). Excluyendo a Panamá, la tasa de crecimiento se elevó de 3,3% a 3,6%. También fue notable una menor dispersión de las tasas alrededor del promedio. Todos los países se hallan en la fase expansiva del ciclo económico, ya que se cumplieron tres años de incremento del producto interno bruto (PIB) por habitante, después del retroceso ocurrido en el bienio 2001-2002. Si …

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…

Manual for completing the questionnaire on measures affecting services trade in the hemisphere

Abstract This Manual is part of the teaching material prepared especially for the use of training workshops dealing with techniques for collecting information, country by country, on all measures pertaining to trade in services in the countries of the western hemisphere. The Manual is designed to be updated as the training workshops progress, to take account of the suggestions and improvements that come out of these. The Manual includes basic background material on quantitative aspects of services trade in the world and in the countries of the hemisphere (Section I);. Next, information is give…

Access to medicines and incentives for innovation: The balance struck in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on intellectual property (patent and data exclusivity) protection for pharmaceutical products

This study addresses the balance struck under the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) between the right to health and access to medicines and the need to maintain the economic incentives to spur innovation and research and development through intellectual property protection. The analysis focuses on the patent and data-related intellectual property protection provisions of the TPPA, specifically regarding pharmaceutical (small-molecule and biologic) products, including on patent duration, linkage and term extensions as well as clinical test data protection and market exclusivity. Specia…

Ensuring incentives for innovation and access to medicines: The balance struck in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement on intellectual property (patent and regulatory data) protection for pharmaceutical products

The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) commissioned this study to analyze the implications of the balance struck under the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) between the right to health and access to next-generation medicines on the one hand, and on the other, the private right to intellectual property protection and the need to maintain profit-earning incentives to spur innovation and research and development. The study focuses on the patent and data-related intellectual property protection provisions of the TPPA, specifically regarding phar…

Impact of the ASEAN Economic Community and implications for Latin America

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has become one of the most important players in the global trading system. Comprising 10 countries with very diverse income levels, ASEAN is now the world’s fifth largest economy and plays a central role in the so-called “Factory Asia”. This document begins with an overview of the history and institutions of ASEAN, before focusing on one of its three pillars: the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), including a critical assessment of outcomes in the areas of trade in goods, trade in services and investment, among others. The document draws best pra…

Creative industries in the Caribbean: a new road for diversification and export growth

Creative industries have become a new engine of growth and development in the world economy. This dynamic sector, which ranges from traditional arts to multimedia, has been an important driver of innovation and productivity growth. The present study argues that the creative industries can become a pillar for economic diversification and export growth in the Caribbean. The study adds to the developing literature on the creative sector by evaluating export performance in the context of constraints as well as opportunities. The Caribbean creative sector possesses a number of advantages that are r…

Caribbean SIDS Prepare for Johannesburg 2002 - The World Summit on Sustainable Development

Foro Global de Servicios en asociación con la Conferencia REDLAS 2018: Servicios basados en el conocimiento para el desarrollo sostenible

Del 13 al 14 de septiembre de 2018, el Foro Global de Servicios (FGS) y la Conferencia de la Red Latinoamericana y del Caribe para la Investigación en Servicios (REDLAS) se reunirán en Buenos Aires, Argentina, para centrarse en el importante papel de los servicios basados en el conocimiento para el desarrollo sostenible, la diversificación productiva y de exportación, la innovación e internacionalización.…

E-business innovation and customs renovation for secure supply chain management

Information technologies (ITs) and supply chain management (SCM) are increasingly considered as indispensable tools of competitiveness especially for companies facing excessive global competition, although these companies have not necessarily succeeded in taking full advantage of such cutting-edge technologies and management systems. Their use, especially of international SCMs, is limited to a small number of purchaser-suppliers groups that are formed primarily by transnational corporations (TNCs). The factors impeding a proliferation of SCMs at a global scale include the difficulties that com…

Observatory of customs controls for United States imports: technical standards

Global antidumping activity peaked in 2001, with 366 petitions initiated world-wide, and rapidly diminished to just 163 cases in 2007. With the onset of the current major world-wide recession some observers feared that antidumping usage would climb dramatically; however while antidumping activity was up by 28% in 2008 (to 208 cases initiated, according to WTO statistics), the rise was not nearly commensurate with the financial distress, and new antidumping initiations for the first three quarters of 2009 -at 154 cases- are on pace to show little change for the full year compared to the previou…

The Implications of the European Union's EBA for the Caribbean

Strategic options of commercial policy for Central America: basic guidelines