Greater effort to speed up Latin America integration

The current regional integration of Latin America is too slow in the light of challenges the region faces and greater efforts should be made to rev up the process. This is the view of Osvaldo Rosales, director for International Trade and Integration with the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). "Considering the reality of the global economy, the integration process in Latin America and the Caribbean is getting more and more urgent and we would like to see that the steps taken were faster," Rosales said. "There are minor advances in one or another integration scheme, but at the regional level it is slow which, frankly, does not coincide with the magnitude of the challenges that the region faces," Rosales added. He cited the creation of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, the Deep Integration Project, signed by government leaders of Peru, Colombia, Mexico and Chile in April, as well as the Latin American Integrated Market, formed by the stock exchanges of Chile, Peru and Colombia in May. To help advance the integration process of Latin America, ECLAC had presented a proposal to the leaders of the region advocating the need to advance trade convergence and other issues including infrastructure, logistics, transportation, innovation and education, Rosales said. The ECLAC proposal also includes a list of topics that go beyond trade but has greater cooperation potential and would be helpful in advancing regional integration, said Rosales, who did not elaborate. There are difficulties in moving the integration process ahead and "there haven't been any steps backwards in the processes of regional integration either," said Rosales. "The bottom line is to seize the time and produce a detailed plan on how to approach the Asia-Pacific region in order to be integrated," he added.