Despite solid growth performance in the region, Latin America continues to lag behind other regions in the world in key competitiveness indicators.
When the presidents of Mercosur countries gathered in Córdoba, Argentina last week to celebrate Venezuela’s entry and discuss plans for the “great gas pipeline of the south,” a key item was missing from their discussion: technological innovation.
As the G-8 Heads of State concluded their meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, there was some lip service paid to the need to conclude the Doha Development Agenda, the latest round of WTO trade talks.
Volume 4, Issue 8 Manuel Álvarez-Trongé
Peru narrowly dodged a bullet on June 4 when centrist Alan Garcia defeated Ollanta Humala, a radical anti-U.S. demagogue, by an uncomfortably narrow margin. Humala was threatening to pull Peru back from the global economy, install a more authoritarian regime and ally himself with Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez.
It seems that much of the news coming out of Latin America these days is about leftward lurches and the latest respective government action to undermine the market economy.