Don Heriberto Martinez, a 55-year-old truck driver from El Salvador, spent most of his adult life transporting goods down the Pacific corridor. The corridor is the shortest route between Mexico and Panama, where six billion dollars of commercial goods are transported every year. Martinez usually spends eight days to drive its 3,200 kilometers. On the other hand, Dennis Kimetto … [Read more...] about Who Would Arrive First on a Trip between Mexico and Panama: A Marathon Runner or a Truck Driver?
Trade Facilitation
Are we entering a new era of trade facilitation cooperation in Latin America?
This afternoon, Brazil’s Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services and Argentina’s Ministry of Production announced a technical cooperation with the Inter-American Development Bank. The goal is to intensify areas for dialogue between Brazilian and Argentinian governments and private sectors to effectively implement measures to facilitate bilateral trade. The IDB will … [Read more...] about Are we entering a new era of trade facilitation cooperation in Latin America?
How did a Paraguayan SME manage to overcome barriers and the cost of information to offer a top product that meets international standards?
When Paraguay Teas was created, Margarita Duarte and her sister Marisa were two young, entrepreneurial women from the city who one day went touring the Paraguayan countryside to talk directly to farmers. Many of them where men older than the Duarte sisters, who listened with suspicion to the strangers. Little by little the Duarte sisters managed to buy, process and pack high … [Read more...] about How did a Paraguayan SME manage to overcome barriers and the cost of information to offer a top product that meets international standards?
How trade, investment and cooperation between Japan and Latin America and the Caribbean can inspire our future trade relationship with Asia
From the perspective of Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) trade, the first decade of the 21st century was all about Asia. Driven by China’s strong growth and soaring demand for natural resources, trade between LAC and Asia grew at an annual average rate of 24 percent between 2003 and 2011. However, this once-dynamic relationship has now encountered serious headwinds. Trade … [Read more...] about How trade, investment and cooperation between Japan and Latin America and the Caribbean can inspire our future trade relationship with Asia
Indirect Exports: A Simple Route to Internationalization for SMEs?
In practically every country in the world, the percentage of large companies that export is much higher than the share of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that do so. This is due, among other factors, to the fact that large companies tend to have higher profit margins than SMEs and can thus underwrite the additional costs associated with the export process (e.g., … [Read more...] about Indirect Exports: A Simple Route to Internationalization for SMEs?