Global economic developments, 2000-2001

Includes bibliography

Progress made in the implementation of the CARICOM single market and economy

Includes bibliography

Latin America’s emergence in global services A new driver of structural change in the region?

Includes bibliography.

Reducing Legal Uncertainty: A Challenge for Subregional Integration in Latin America and the Caribbean

Despite the recovery in intraregional trade over the past three years, intra-group trade, that is trade within the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR), the Andean Community (CAN) and the Central American Common Market (CACM), remains much weaker than that observed within similar groups in other regions of the world. This weakness is due essentially to the serious lack of complementarity in the process of eliminating tariff barriers (see chapter 3 of Latin America and the Caribbean in the World Economy 2004: Trends 2005, and the study on regional integration entitled: "América Latina y El Caribe: La integración regional en la hora de las definiciones", which is due to be published shortly and which updates basic information for the year 2005). The reasons include (a) weak institutional capacities; (b) the lack of macroeconomic coordination; (c) inadequate infrastructure and d) the lack of depth in integration-related trade disciplines.  This edition of the Bulletin reviews the mechanisms for dispute settlement within Mercosur, the Andean Community and CACM with a view to drawing conclusions on the extent to which they are used. In order to reform such mechanisms, consideration should be given to the creation of a single dispute settlement mechanism which would replicate the procedures and regulations of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Tracking and Perspectives on WTO Negotiations: from Geneva to Hong Kong , July-December 2005

This month's issue of the FAL Bulletin takes a panoramic view of the present World Trade Organization (WTO) trade negotiations, soon to embark on the Sixth Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ). Reduced expectations on the outcomes of this meeting due to the scant progress on critical issues - such as the liberalization of the agricultural sector - increase the challenge to conclude the Doha Round by the end of 2006. The governments of the region have a role to play in the direction this process may take. Additional details on the progress of these objectives can be obtained in chapter II of Latin America and the Caribbean in the World Economy, 2004 Trends 2005.

The maritime cycle and the post-crisis ups and downs

This edition of the FAL Bulletin analyses the maritime cycle and its impact on the overall business cycle. In particular, it considers the financial and economic crisis which shook the world from 2008 onwards, affecting both world trade and levels of economic activity, with serious consequences for maritime transport.

CEFACT: an international private/public sector partnership

The Centre for the Facilitation of Procedures and Practices in Administration, Commerce and Transport (CEFACT) constitutes a partnership between the public and private sectors for their mutual benefit. For the private sector, working with governments to improve commerce is critical to improving international competitiveness. For governments, working with the private sector to reduce procedural barriers to trade is critical to improving both their own administrative effectiveness and the economic well-being of their countries. This issue of the Bulletin presents an exposition by the Chairman of the CEFACT, Mr. Henri Martre, at the Trade Facilitation Seminar, carried out between 9 and 10 March of 1998, at the Headquarters of the World Trade Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. Its main purpose is to explain the importance of CEFACT's partnership between the public and private sectors; how this partnership works, and the trade facilitation instruments it has created.

Recent increases in shipping costs and their impact on exports from Latin America

This issue of the FAL Bulletin is based on a study prepared by ECLAC which works out a provisional approach for estimating the impact of increases in freight rates on exports from Latin America during the last few quarters. The total cost of exports from the region reflects the increases in three different components: the quantities exported, the prices of the goods and the freight charges. The influence of each of these is estimated.The information bases used are comprised of data obtained from the World Trade Organization (WTO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) (International Transport Database) and the authors own direct compilation. The conclusion is that total exports from Latin America varied by US$ 5.72 billion in the first half of 2004 compared with the first half of 2003; of this amount, US$ 2,105,000,000 correspond to the variation in price and quantity and US$ 3,615,000,000 represent the increase in export freight rates. When compared with the first half of 2002, the variation is in excess of US$ 8 billion.

Informe de la reunión de expertos sobre vínculos entre proveedores de servicios locales y las cadenas globales de valor (México, D.F., 13 de marzo de 2014)

1. La conferencia sobre “Vínculos entre proveedores de servicios locales y las cadenas globales de valor” se enmarcó en la Reunión titulada “Internacionalización e innovación de servicios: nuevas fuentes del desarrollo productivo en América Latina”, organizada por la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), el Colegio de México (COLMEX), el Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF), el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID), la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económico (OECD), la Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas sobre Comercio y Desarrollo (UNCTAD) y el World Trade Institute (WTI). 2. Los servicios desempeñan un papel predominante en las estructuras económicas de América Latina, que se expresa por su gran peso económico (más del 50% del PIB) y por la generación de empleo (más de la mitad del total), junto con una proporción creciente en el comercio internacional, sobre todo cuando este último se mide por valor agregado. Los servicios, lejos de constituirse como un sector autónomo con respecto al industrial, deben su crecimiento a la progresiva racionalización iniciada durante los años ochenta en la cadena de producción manufacturera. En la actualidad, la competitividad de los países, vinculada con su capacidad para atraer o conservar en su territorio parte del valor generado en el sistema mundial, depende del grado de escalamiento del sector servicios en la cadena de valor global. 3. El papel que tienen los servicios genera una serie de retos y oportunidades para el diseño de políticas públicas y para los estudios académicos, principalmente en lo relacionado con: el desempeño de la productividad en los servicios; la participación en cadenas globales de valor y en su escalamiento; el impacto de los marcos regulatorios en el desarrollo del sector; su vinculación con los procesos de innovación, y la calidad de los empleos generados. El objetivo de esta reunión fue dar respuesta a algunos de estos planteamientos y promover el diálogo entre investigadores y diseñadores de política pública. En seguida, se incluye la información sobre la organización, la dinámica y las conclusiones de la reunión.

The international asparagus business in Peru

Includes bibliography.