USAID LAC Trade Update - April 2005
A. Updates
1. Trade Workshop A major International
Trade & Rural Economic Development workshop was held earlier
this year in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Over 200 representatives
from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua,
Panama and the Dominican Republic attended.
The conference focus was to determine how to ensure that
rural farmers and entrepreneurs are positioned to take advantage
of new opportunities anticipated around the Central America
Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). A key presentation by the World
Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank stressed the
need to transition the rural sector toward rural competitiveness
as a way to reduce poverty.
The conference was sponsored by USAID, the Inter-American
Development Bank and the World Bank.
A link to national
action plans discussed at the session.
2. Trade Representative Nominated -- Congressman
Robert Portman (R-2) of Ohio was nominated to be U.S. Trade
Representative. He replaces Robert Zoellick, who has been
nominated for Assistant Secretary of State at the State Department.
3. UN Report on Investment -- A new United
Nations reports that foreign direct investment in Latin America
and the Caribbean (LAC) increased 44 percent to $56.4 billion
last year. This is the first year since 1999 that foreign
capital rose in the region. In South America, foreign direct
investment rose 48 percent to $22.3 billion, according to
the report. Investments in Mexico and the Caribbean basin
increased 43 percent to $22.3 percent.
Brazil led the region with the most foreign direct investment
last year, followed by Chile, according to the report. Also
noted was: a) Argentina foreign investment rose between 2002-2003,
though investment is at its lowest level in the past 15 years;
b) Trinidad and Tobago, El Salvador and Colombia saw foreign
investments rise; and c) Panama and Venezuela saw foreign
investment fall.
For more information.
4. UN Report on Agriculture -- A United
Nations report on Sustainable Agriculture in the Caribbean
noted the liberalization of the trading regimes for primary
agriculture, especially bananas, by the European. The report
said that policy and institutional support for small-scale
farmers are needed to best manage the opportunity.
The study is available from CEPAL.
B. Resources
1. Inter-Government
Trade Dispute Settlement: Multilateral and Regional Approaches
-- By Julio Lacarte and Jaime Granados, this book provides a
comprehensive view of trade dispute settlement mechanisms and
issues that underlie these interactions. Lacarte was chair of
the World Trade Association’s appellate body, and Granados
is a free trade expert at the Inter-American Development Bank
2. World
Bank’s Investment Climate Survey Data Base -- This
data base is a vast repository of survey data for 51 countries
based on in-country survey of more than 27,000 firms. It can
be compared with World Bank’s annually published “Doing
Business.”
C. Upcoming dates
April 18-22 – 8th Round of US- Andean
FTA Negotiations in Lima, Peru
April 27-30 – 26th
Hemispheric Congress on Latin Chambers of Commerce and Industry
in Miami, FL.
May 19 -- Central
America in the World Economy – International Development
Research Centre and the Asociacion de Investigacion y Estudios
Sociales will present three CAFTA studies in Miami, FL.
June 27-29 – USAID
Workshop on Tax and Pension Reform in Washington, DC.
November 4-5 – IV
Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina.
December 1-2 – 8th
Americas Food & Beverage Show & Conference in
Miami Beach, FL.
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