Capítulos

Special Edition 1996

Editorial

In carrying out a retrospective view of the 1996 Latin American and Caribbean economic agenda, three issues stand out - the phenomenon of globalization, the new trends in trade, and the dynamic of regional integration. All three, which are closely intertwined, have merited the close attention of governments either in the form of a year-end inventory or on the basis of short-term perspectives.

What is more, there is no turning back on globalization, along with its cultural hue and the deep-rooted changes it generates, and which some define as "a fast-paced internationalization process that has found its way into production, finance, and trade and which to a large extent is unrestrained by the States".

And trade has contributed largely to these changes. Figures prove that the world opened up like never before in the past fifty years. From the creation of the WTO to date, the average industrial tariff dropped from 50% to 3.5%.

The force of regional integration is reflected in the marked increase in exports among the eleven countries of the Latin American Integration Association (ALADI), reaching 35 billion dollars in 1995, a three-fold increase over the 1990 figures.

Experts and analysts agree in pointing out that the triad composed by globalization, trade, and regional integration will continue to develop at a galloping pace well into the XXI century. The extremely close ties between these three aspects will make the entire process seem one and the same.

This issue of Capítulos del SELA analyzes the three issues as perceived by different authors with varying viewpoints. The President of the Republic of Uruguay, Julio María Sanguinetti, the General Secretary of UNCTAD, Ambassador Rubens Ricúpero, and the General Director of the IMF, Michel Camdessus, all adopt a humanist approach vis-à-vis globalization while the Permanent Secretariat focuses on analyzing the economic impact, and the researcher, Roberto Russell studies the consequences as regards world change scenarios.

Two more specific views are provided in respect of the region's external economic relations. The first of these was presented by the Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China, Li Peng, on the occasion of his visit to SELA headquarters in November when he presented the new guidelines set down by the Chinese government for Sino-Latin American-Caribbean. The second view belongs to researcher, Michele Lowe, who explores potential characteristics of relations between the Caribbean and the European Union after the year 2000, with the expiry of the Lomé IV Agreements.

A number of other documents and articles prepared by the top authorities of the Permanent Secretariat, Messrs. Ambassador Carlos Moneta, and Dr. Luis Alberto Rodríguez, further complement the treatment of the trade issues and the evolution of regional and hemispheric integration.

This issue marks a new chapter in the history of Capítulos of SELA: the relaunching of the magazine's English edition. This issue is a selection of various articles published in the four 1996 Spanish editions. In 1997, Capítulos del SELA will be issued in Spanish and English in order to ensure its dissemination in all the 27 SELA member states as well as in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

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