Personal contacts and questionable contracts between the government and the Chinese company CAMC Engineering reveal both the problems with public procurement in Bolivia and how far Chinese companies have advanced in the country.
Experts and pundits have decided that education is the magic bullet to cure most of Latin America’s ills. Problem is: it’s a long term bet, with no known solutions and too many people working on the edges.
Latin America and Caribbean negotiators arrived at the global climate talks in Paris with ambitious plans. But without international development financing, those ideas will amount to little.
Capitalism does need to be saved from its own excesses in Chile, but few public leaders today have the moral authority to do so.
The scandal over price fixing by private cartels that produce toilet paper has left Chileans believing that their market is unfair and going down the toilet.
Brazil needs to find its place in the new era of “reglobalization” currently underway, marked by plurilateral trade agreements such as the TPP and the EU-U.S. TTIP process.
Should Latin America continue to put all its eggs in the commodity basket hoping for a return of the good times? Of course not. The region must diversify its economic base to focus on manufacturing and services as well. In the meantime, the agricultural sector needs greater unity across the sector to improve productivity, efficiency, and innovation.
In resolving a 40-year debt, Peruvians and, in particular, Peru’s international business class need to understand what is at stake here: not just the integrity and effectiveness of the judicial system but international opinion on how the government and the judicial system treats property and legal obligations.
The recent agreement of the Trans-Pacific Partnership is about far more than trade. It’s about creating a new international regime in the Pacific that will reinforce trade rules, smooth inter-state relations and promote international harmony with China.
The World Bank annual meeting in Lima, Peru this weeks offers a unique opportunity. While China’s massive investments in infrastructure are much-needed, they come with huge risks. The World Bank can reduce those by working with these new efforts—with all their capital—to apply the Bank’s experience in protecting the environment and local communities.
