El objetivo de este documento es informar al personal del Banco, así como a otros interesados sobre los últimos desarrollos en integración y comercio en los países del Hemisferio Occidental, y, entre éstos y otros países y regiones del mundo. El propósito de esta publicación es (1) evaluar el estado actual de las relaciones económicas entre América Latina y el Asia-Pacífico; (2) examinar la evolución de las iniciativas de cooperación bilateral; (3) analizar las contribuciones potenciales de las estrategias de desarrollo asiáticas a las políticas económicas de los países de América Latina; y (4) explorar nuevas posibilidades de la relación birregional.

China's size, rapid growth, external openness, and trade performance have led to varying perceptions among the countries of Latin America: Is China a potential new market, a potent new competitor, or both? This book assesses the near-term strategic implications of China's economic performance for growth and development in Latin America.

Los documentos que se presentan en este volumen incluyen elementos que podrían servir de base para adaptar los objetivos de desarrollo del milenio a las características específicas de la región. Incluyen también un diagnóstico de avance, sugerencias sobre las prioridades de inversión y una agenda de reformas para lograr dichos objetivos y presentan un conjunto de instrumentos que el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo ha utilizado y puede utilizar en el futuro para apoyar a los países en sus esfuerzos dirigidos a esos objetivos.

The objective of this study is to analyze the interaction between trade and non-trade cooperation in some of the today's major regional initiatives, particularly those between developing and industrialized countries. The study suggests a framework to explore what the paper calls a "trade and cooperation nexus". The modalities of this nexus can take different forms. For instance, non-trade cooperation may be an integral part of a formal trade or integration agreement, or may take place independently of such an agreement, as an ex-ante, ex-post or parallel agreement. This paper analyzes the EU approach, which proposes an unusually tight trade and cooperation nexus based on a three-pillar approach uniting political, economic and trade cooperation under a single umbrella agreement. Theoretically this approach should be attractive, especially in North-South agreements, because the promise of linking free trade with cooperation programs could enhance the benefits of the former for both parties. However, while innovative, the nexus is challenging in its construction and delivery. The paper will explore EU efforts in this area in the broader context of what is happening in other North-South initiatives.

This book is based on a conference entitled "Regional Public Goods and Regional Development Assistance", held in Washington, D.C. on November 6-7, 2002. It examines how the IDB and the ADB support the provision of regional public goods (RPGs) in Latin America and Asia, respectively. RPGs are products, services, regulatory systems or policy regimes that generate shared benefits for participating countries in such areas as health, education, trade, and infrastructure.

This book analyzes the role of trade as a central pillar of the structural reform process and a bridge to capturing the dynamic development forces of an increasingly globalized world economy.

The purpose of this document is to inform Bank staff and other interested parties about recent developments in integration and trade among the countries of the Western Hemisphere and between these and other countries and world regions.

The 1990s witnessed the parallel forces of globalization and regionalization strongly at work. While seemingly contradictory, they are in fact complementary aspects of market development. This paper will focus on the latter, and its special aspects of regionalism; i.e., policy driven regional cooperation. Particular attention will be given to the recent advances and challenges in two crucial aspects of regionalism: regional trade and financial cooperation. The other important area of concern of the paper is how regional development banks are supporting regional initiatives and identifying emerging issues which they should be preparing to deal with.

Las fuerzas centrífugas de la globalización económica en los años noventa circularon paralelas con las centrípetas de la regionalización. Aunque aparentemente parecían dirigirse en direcciones opuestas, las dos fuerzas reflejaban dimensiones complementarias del dinámico desarrollo del mercado capitalista. La conclusión de la Ronda Uruguay y la creciente corriente de asociación en la Organización Mundial del Comercio (OMC) fue acompañada por una situación en la cual los esquemas de integración regional se volvieron un hecho común. En efecto, prácticamente todos los miembros de la OMC pertenecen en la actualidad a uno o más acuerdos regionales. América Latina es un buen ejemplo de estas fuerzas duales. Entre mediados de la década de los años ochenta y noventa la región redujo unilateralmente de alrededor del 40% al 12% el promedio de su arancel externo. También participó activamente de la Ronda Uruguay y hacia el final de la década todos los países latinoamericanos eran miembros de la OMC. Mientras tanto, se originaba una corriente paralela de nuevos acuerdos de integración y de libre comercio recíproco, que sumaron alrededor de veinte. Estas tendencias fueron acompañadas por un promedio de crecimiento fuerte del comercio internacional en los años noventa y un aumento marcado del comercio intrarregional. Este trabajo pretende fundamentar que la reciente ola de integración regional en América Latina es efectivamente un Nuevo Regionalismo, bastante diferente del viejo, y por lo tanto merecedora de una perspectiva mas amplia que en el pasado.

The centrifugal forces of economic globalization in the 1990's ran parallel with centripetal forces of regionalization. While seemingly pulling in opposite directions, the two forces reflected complementary dimensions of dynamic capitalist market development. The completion of the Uruguay Round and growing membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) was accompanied by a situation in which regional integration schemes became commonplace; indeed, practically all WTO members are now party to one or more regional accords. Latin America is a good example of these dual forces. Between the mid-1980s and 1990s the region unilaterally reduced its average external tariff from over 40% to 12 %. The region also actively participated in the Uruguay Round and by the end of the decade all Latin American countries were members of the WTO. Meanwhile, there was a parallel wave of new reciprocal free trade and integration agreements, around twenty in number. These trends were accompanied by a strong average growth of international trade in the 1990s and a marked increase in intraregional trade. This paper attempts to substantiate that Latin America¿s recent wave of regional integration is indeed a New Regionalism, quite different from the old, and hence merits a more comprehensive perspective than in the past.

The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) process was launched during the Miami Summit of Heads of State in December 1994. It was the centerpiece of a broader hemispheric initiative of political and socio-economic cooperation among 34 countries of the Americas with the objective to negotiate a hemispheric free trade agreement by the year 2005. The preparatory phase began in January 1995 and formal negotiations were launched in April 1998. The creation of an FTAA would clearly be the most important chapter in the history of regional cooperation in the Western Hemisphere and mark a fitting culmination to a fast maturing trade policy framework in Latin America and the Caribbean. The FTAA process is the result of progressive globalization of the world economy and a profound transformation in the region based on: (i) structural economic reforms in almost all the countries directed at stimulating market activity and a better articulation with the world economy; (ii) the emergence, or strengthening, of democratic regimes almost everywhere and (iii) political commitments to foster peace and cooperation among neighbors with a history of rivalry and conflict. Regional integration has been a fundamental complementary tool for achieving these ambitious national objectives, which permeate the entire region. Latin America and the Caribbean have a long tradition of interest in regional integration. An intense amount of activity in this area emerged out of the Post-War period. However, the initiatives in the first three decades following the War inserted themselves in the prevailing state-led import substitution strategy of the time, itself to a large extent a product of "market skepticism" derived from the Great Depression. In the 1990s, however, a "new" regionalism emerged in Latin America and the Caribbean that conformed to the new national strategies for economic and political transformation and preparation for globalization.