The establishment of a single window is a crucial step in the move towards paperless trade, generating significant savings in time and money for companies as well as the different public bodies involved in foreign trade. Under the Trade Facilitation Agreement of the World Trade Organization, which entered into force in 2017, all the Organization’s members committed to maintaining or establishing a single window. Asia is home to some of the world’s largest trading economies and to several of the most advanced single windows. This report analyses and compares the main functionalities of four: th…
This paper uses an augmented gravity trade model to examine the impact of Chinese exports to the United States on Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) exports to the same market over the last two decades. The analysis relies on a sample of 33 LAC countries and trade data disaggregated to the 10- digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) level. The results show that the impact of Chinese exports on US imports from LAC is negative and statistically significant across model specifications and levels of aggregation in the trade data. In addition, the model suggests that after accounting for such exp…
In the last few months, the world has witnessed and continue to witness a drastic change in our daily lives, which has also caused great impacts on business, trade, and shipping. The outbreak of a pandemic changed all economic and trade expectations for 2020. From a forecast of 3.6% growth in container trade worldwide in the last quarter of 2019, to 2.5% in January 2020, new projections have lowered down expectations to -4.9%. This drop is partially explained, apart from the pandemic, by the continuing increase of blank sails[1] and labour restrictions.
Several countries have been implementing…
In the last few months, the world has witnessed and continue to witness a drastic change in our daily lives, which has also caused great impacts on business, trade, and shipping. The outbreak of a pandemic changed all economic and trade expectations for 2020. From a forecast of 3.6% growth in container trade worldwide in the last quarter of 2019, to 2.5% in January 2020, new projections have lowered down expectations to -4.9%. This drop is partially explained, apart from the pandemic, by the continuing increase of blank sails[1] and labour restrictions.
Several countries have been implementing…
The economies of the Caribbean face several challenges, such as a lack of economies of scale in production of goods and services exacerbated by small populations, narrow internal markets and scarce capital, which limit the economic gains from self-sufficiency. For this reason, more emphasis should be placed on building export capacity and facilitating trade. If we examine the characteristics of firms in the subregion, the majority can be categorized as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Moreover, only about 13 per cent of these SMEs export. This suggests that on average the subregion i…
This study was prepared under the United Nations Development Account project “Enhancing the Contribution of Preferential Trade Agreements to Inclusive and Equitable Trade”, implemented by the United Nations Regional Commissions for Asia (ESCAP), Africa (ECA) and Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). The project’s objective is to facilitate the negotiation of fair and equitable trade agreements that can contribute to a vision of development that combines growth with social inclusion.
The study evaluates the economic and social impacts resulting from the potential increase of commercial relat…
The CELAC region could benefit from an increase in mutual cooperation with Korea on multiple development pillars, including innovation and SMEs’ internationalization. These two themes figure among the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the period of 2016 to 2030 and are key topics on the development agendas of CELAC countries and Korea. The first theme, science, technology and innovation (STI), is at the heart of structural transformation and encourages the emergence of new sectors, production networks and businesses. The second theme, SME internationalization strategies, …
This brief note presents some thoughts about the possible effects of the failure to renew the Andean Trade Preferences and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA); and its possible expiration this coming December 31. United States President, George W. Bush, asked his country's Congress to extend the validity of the trade preferences granted to the Andean countries under the ATPDEA. That news was welcomed and applauded by the Andean countries, which hailed this measure and promptly thanked the U.S. leader for his gesture.
Even so, it is evident that there are Congressmen in the United States who do …
22 - 24 Feb
2023, 10:00 - 11:00
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Evento (Conferences and meetings of subsidiary bodies)
ESCAP-ECA-ECLAC workshop
Regional Digital Trade Integration Index (RDTII): findings and implications from Asia-Pacific, Africa, and LAC
Hybrid Meeting, UNCC Meeting Room H and Zoom (By invitation only)
22-24 February 2023
Background
This workshop is based on the joint efforts of three United Nations Regional Commissions (UNRCs), namely ESCAP, ECA and ECLAC, on digital trade regulatory analysis and integration. Its objectives are to build the capacity of the Forum for East Asia and Latin America (FEALAC) and other participating UN member states by familiarizing them with the ESCAP-ECA-EC…
This report analyses the state of international maritime trade and port activity for the period 2023–2024. It highlights recovery trends, structural challenges and new disruptions impacting the sector. Consistent with the analysis in the previous report, this report examines the effects of global events, such as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and persistent geopolitical tensions, the repercussions of which continue to impact supply chains. It also identifies emerging trends in logistics management and factors behind fluctuations in port activity and provides an analysis of the mar…
The economies of the subregion were hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly those dependent on tourism. As a result, the Caribbean has seen a reversal of the hard-won gains achieved in growing their economies and reducing unemployment and inequality. The inflation stemming from pandemic supply chain disruption, which has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, has made the sustained uptick in economic performance beyond pre-pandemic levels unlikely, notwithstanding strong growth estimates for 2021 and 2022. The last two years have taught the region that continued ‘business as usual’ is…
This paper investigates Latin America and Caribbean (LAC)’s nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and their potential implications for the region’s balance of payments. The first section summarizes prevailing trade dynamics, finding that in LAC, exports of raw materials help to cover the cost of importing capital goods. The second section turns to the region’s NDCs to identify policies affecting import expenditure. The third section employs a similar methodology on the export side, tallying policies affecting output and global cost competitiveness in key sectors (crops, livestock, timber,…
The Government of Saint Lucia continues to take a strategic approach to the development of the energy sector and to this end, in 2010 elaborated a comprehensive national energy policy. In 2018, the country also adopted its National Energy Transition Strategy, which is intended to chart the way forward for the inclusion of RE in the electricity generation mix.
While there has been some attention given to the whole issue of renewable energy and its inclusion in the generation mix, there has not been a similar level of attention paid to the study of energy efficiency and the benefits which are wi…
This report presents a description of trade flows between the U.S. and Latin American and the Caribbean. The region has been one of the fastest-growing regional trading partners for the United States, with Mexico becoming its number one trading partner in March 2019. The document also contains a summary of the main findings of the United States International Trade Commission on the potential economic effects of the USMCA on the U.S. economy, highlights of developments in the trade relationship between the United States and China, and measures that inhibit the free flow of trade. In addition, t…
Over the past two decades, Chile has successfully developed its wine industry, being the world’s fourth largest exporter in 2015 with mostly medium-quality wines. In addition to well known key factors such as climate and soil conditions, (foreign direct) investment in firms, imports of specialized capital equipment and highly skilled human resources, this paper explores the role of 38 (knowledge intensive) services in five different segments of the wine value chain. On the basis of answers by 29 wine firms regarding services activities on a survey carried out for this study, firms indicate the…
The entry into force of the Additional Protocol of the Framework Agreement of the Pacific Alliance in May 2016 marked an important step towards the regional integration efforts of its four members: Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. In addition to promoting trade and investment linkages among its members, a core objective of the Pacific Alliance —and what distinguishes it from other regional integration efforts in Latin America— is to serve as a platform for economic and commercial integration between Latin America and Asia-Pacific. It is, therefore, of particular interest to evaluate current e…
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…
Given the asymmetry in the levels of development and capacity which exist between the EU and
CARIFORUM States, the architects of the CARIFORUM-European Union (EU) Economic
Partnership Agreement (EPA)1 anticipated the need for review and monitoring of the impacts of
implementation. Article 5 and other provisions in the Agreement therefore specifically mandate that
monitoring be undertaken to ensure that the Agreement benefits a wide cross-section of the population
in member countries.
The paper seeks to provide a preliminary assessment of the impact of the EPA on
CARIFORUM countries. In so doin…
In the face of weak global growth in major export markets the Caribbean economies have underperformed. The situation is much more severe among service producers1 which have suffered the decline in tourist arrivals and offshore banking services. The goods producers have benefited from the commodity boom and have tended to show more robust growth. The expectations for 2013 are that growth will be positive in the region with the service producers growing at 1.5per cent and the goods producers at 3.6per cent. This performance will depend heavily on improved performances in the major export markets…
Latin America and the Caribbean is among the fastest growing markets in the world and an important trading partner for many countries. The positive byproducts of this trend include deeper integration and strengthened economic and diplomatic relations with trading partners around the world. However, as trade continues to grow, disputes will naturally arise between nations with respect to a wide range of trade barriers. Often these disputes are addressed within the framework of the World Trade Organization’s Dispute Settlement System.
This document describes the experience of the region in the W…