Latin America and the Caribbean in the World Economy: 2005 Trends

The study recently published by the Division of International Trade and Integration of ECLAC considers that 2005 will be a good year for trade in the countries of the region. Despite a favourable international context, there are still serious problems of competitiveness. The region needs to increase productivity, promote technological innovation and take a proactive part in worldwide networks. The conclusions of the study include the need to update integration; to take a strategic view of the links to be constructed with China and the countries of the Pacific; to manage free-trade agreements so as to increase and diversify exports; to step up the pace of work and improve coordination with the developing countries on the Doha Round, and to gradually incorporate the demands of security into competitiveness policies, ensuring that they do not become protectionist barriers (traceability, food safety and maritime and port security).

Trade Facilitation: Promoting Trade as an Engine of Growth Using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTS)

Three factors define the main difficulties faced by developing countries in the area of trade facilitation: (i) limited understanding and use by governments and business (especially SMEs) of trade facilitation and of ICT tools and techniques; (ii) developing countries' limited capacity for policy analysis and inadequate policy instruments for the implementation of trade facilitation, and (iii) inadequate policy coordination for negotiation on trade facilitation. These obstacles tend to reduce countries' development opportunities and to increase the costs of general economic development and social welfare.The United Nations, through its five regional commissions, is launching a project that seeks to disseminate the benefits of trade facilitation and the standards, tools and requirements for its successful implementation. The project will focus on trade facilitation promoted by: (a) enhanced knowledge and understanding of governments and business regarding trade facilitation and the role of ICT; (b) enhanced use of ICT by SMEs in trade facilitation, and (c) national capacity-building for trade facilitation negotiations.

Ten Years of Operation of the World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Mechanism: Outcome for Latin America and the Caribbean

Dispute settlement mechanisms help to create a fairly predictable and accurate environment in which economic agents can pursue their activities in the international arena. The World Trade Organization (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) has now been in operation for 10 years and it is fitting, at this point to assess the progress achieved by Latin America and the Caribbean, the region that made most use of this mechanism during the period, and whose countries have made significant gains against protectionism in key export sectors. These successes constitute important precedents which will influence upcoming multilateral negotiations and future trade disputes.This article reviews the work carried out by the DSB, the role of the leading stakeholders in the system (the United States and the European Union) and progress made by countries of the region in a global context marked by the complexity of trade issues and the legal framework that regulates them. The findings presented in this article are based on the study "Una década de funcionamiento del Sistema de Solución de Diferencias de la OMC: avances y desafíos".

Technical Notes on Trade Facilitation Measures

Towards the end of 2004, the members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) formally launched negotiations on trade facilitation on the basis of the modalities set out in Annex D of the July Package adopted in 2004. This mandate instructed members to clarify and improve three articles of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), namely, article V on freedom of transit, article VIII on fees and formalities connected with importation and exportation, and article X on the publication and administration of trade regulations. To support these negotiations, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) created a trust fund, with contributions from the Governments of Sweden and Spain . This fund has been used to develop a series of seminars and meetings and to produce a total of 20 technical notes on specific trade facilitation measures. These notes cover in particular facilitation measures that are topics of specific proposals that were made during WTO negotiations. This edition of the FAL Bulletin summarizes several of these technical notes, focusing mainly on customs-related issues.

Transport in the Americas: linking regional systems

On 15 and 16 December 1998, in New Orleans, United States, the third Western Hemisphere Transportation Ministerial Meeting will take place. This is part of a work programme which has been incorporated into the Plan of Action of the Americas. The Summit of the Americas held in Santiago, Chile, in April 1998, and the adoption of negotiations mechanisms for the Free Trade Area of the Americas constitute two major landmarks of the continental integration processes this year. The current issue of the FAL Bulletin focuses on the relationship between trade and transport in the Americas, and includes a discussion of transport systems and the supporting integration progress in the continent.

ECLAC Notes Nº 32

Special Issue: Preliminay Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean, 2003 Regional Overview Op-ed by José Luis Machinea, ECLAC's Executive Secretary. Reflections on the Improved Scenario Expected for This Year The External Sector Latin America and the Caribbean: Trade Negotiations Macroeconomic Policy Internal Performance Statistical Appendix Recent Titles Calendar of Events

ECLAC Notes. Special Issue

Special Issue: Preserving the Multilateral Trading System: An Evaluation of Doha The Underlying Reasons Uncertain Status of Initiatives for Developing Countries Hong Kong Ministerial Accord on Export Subsidies Main Differences in Agriculture The Perfect is Enemy of the Good Obstacles to Negotiating Access to Agricultural Product Markets Multilateralism, the Main Casualty The Benefits of the WTO Importance of Renewing Negotiations for Latin America

United States Trade Developments 2012-2013

Includes bibliography.

Logistics and trade facilitation between CARICOM and Central America

Includes bibliography.

CEPAL Review no.88

Celso Furtado’s contributions to structuralism and their relevance today / Ricardo Bielschowsky. -- Has investor protection been rendered obsolete by the Argentine crisis? / Michael Mortimore and Leonardo Stanley. -- The rights-based approach in development policies and strategies / Victor Abramovich. -- Can the Latin American and Caribbean countries emulate the Irish model of FDI attraction? / Ruth Rios-Morales and David O’Donovan. -- The slow comeback of industrial policies in Latin America and the Caribbean / Wilson Peres. -- A low-growth model: informality as a structural constraint / Mario Cimoli, Annalisa Primi and Maurizio Pugno. -- The Argentine labour market in a financially globalized world / Mario Damill and Roberto Frenkel. -- Social precarity in Mexico and Argentina: trends, manifestations and national trajectories / María Cristina Bayón. -- The Fiscal Covenant in Guatemala: lessons learned from the negotiations / Juan Alberto Fuentes K. and Maynor Cabrera. -- Changes in Chile’s production structure, 1986-1996: output and industrial interdependence / José Miguel Albala-Bertrand. -- Guidelines for contributors to the CEPAL Review. -- CEPAL Review on the Internet. -- Recent ECLAC publications.

Panorama da Inserção Internacional da América Latina e Caribe 2013: Lenta pós-crise, meganegociações comerciais e cadeias de valor: o espaço de ação regional. Documento informativo

A edição 2013 do Panorama da inserção internacional da América Latina e Caribe, intitulado “Lenta pós-crise, meganegociações comerciais e cadeias de valor: o espaço de ação regional”, se divide em três capítulos. O primeiro capítulo revisa os principais traços da persistente debilidade que mostram a economia e o comércio mundial. Em seguida, se examina a evolução e as perspectivas do comércio mundial e regional. No segundo capítulo faz-se um exame das principais transformações da organização da produção e do comércio mundial associadas ao fenômeno das redes internacionais de produção, que estão na raiz das atuais negociações megarregionais. À continuação se revisam três processos de particular importância: o Acordo Transatlântico sobre Comércio e Investimento entre os Estados Unidos e a União Europeia; o Acordo de Associação Transpacífico, que inclui 12 países de América Latina, América do Norte, Ásia e Oceania; e a Associação Econômica Integral Regional, que reúne dez países membros da Associação de Nações do Sudeste Asiático (ASEAN), Austrália, China, Índia, Japão, Nova Zelândia e República da Coreia. O capítulo III analisa a participação dos países da América Latina e do Caribe em redes internacionais de produção e cadeias de valor.

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 regional trade both via trade diversion and through investment decisions, considering a larger time horizon. International capital movement might affect exchange rates and output growth, hence influencing trade. At the same time the need for new, broader negotiating agenda, from simply dealing with trade issues to taking into consideration topics not directly related to trade but rather to competition, labour standards, environmental issues and others increase the difficulties in designing integration strategies. Even more so if the group of countries that aim at integrating their economies present markedly different characteristics. This article – an extension of a presentation made at the German Development Institute Conference on Regional Economic Integration Beyond Europe held in Bonn in December, 2007 - discusses these and other aspects related to regional integration in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Revista de la CEPAL no.56

Democracia y desarrollo / Femando H. Cardoso. -- ¿Es posible crecer con equidad? / Joseph Ramos. -- Estabilidad y estructura: Interacciones en el crecimiento económico / José María Fanelli y Roberto Frenkel. -- Reforma a los sistemas de pensiones en América Latina / Andras Vthoff. -- Tendencias económicas en China: significado para el comercio con América Latina y el Caribe / Mikio Kuwayama. -- El Intercambio económico entre América Latina y las economías dinámicas dé Asia / Ronald Sprout. -- La relación económica entre la América Latina y la Unión Europea / Roberto Smith Perera. -- Nuevas Implicaciones de las reglas de origen / Eduardo Gitli. -- Globalización y reestructuración energética en América Latina / Femando Sánchez Albavera. -- El caleidoscopio de la competitividad / Geraldo Mailer. -- La privatización de los servicios públicos del agua / Miguel Solones. -- ¿Cuánto se puede gastar en educación? / Guillermo Labarca. -- Mujeres y migrantes: desigualdades en el mercado laboral de Santiago de Chile / Ivonne Szasz.

CEPAL Review no.56

Democracy and development / Fernando H. Cardoso. -- Can growth and equity go hand in hand? / Joseph Ramos. -- Stability and structure: interactions in economic growth / José Maria Fanelli and Roberto Frenkel. -- Pension system reform in Latin America / Andras Uthoff. -- Recent economic trends in China and their implications for trade with Latin America and the Caribbean / Mikio Kuwayama. -- Economic relations between Latin America and the high-performing Asian developing economies / Ronald Sprout. -- Economic relations between Latin America and the European Union / Roberto Smith Perera. -- Rules of origin: new implications / Eduardo Gitli. -- Globalization and restructuring the energy sector in Latin America / Femando Sánchez Albavera. -- The kaleidoscope of competitiveness / Geraldo Müller. -- The privatization of public water utilities / Miguel Solones. -- How much can we spend on education? / Guillermo Labarca. -- Women and migrants: inequalities in the labour market of Santiago, Chile / Ivonne Szasz.

Conhecimentos tradicionais, propriedade intelectual e política externa brasileira

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)