Chile leads regional ranking on enabling trade and investmentPublished: July 17, 2009
According to the World Economic Forum's Global Enabling Trade Report 2009, Chile has surpassed all the other countries in the region, including Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, and is now placed among the top 20 economies worldwide.
Published for the second time, and covering 121 of the world's economies, the World Economic Forum's report highlighted Chile's performance in terms of openness to international trade.
The study analysed the institutions, policies and services that enable the free circulation of commodities in four areas: market access, administration of borders, transport and communications infrastructure, and business environment.
The World Economic Forum indicated that Chile's result comes as no surprise, given that the country plays an important role in the region. Chile has shown a commitment to free trade by reducing the complexity of its tariffs and successfully negotiating the entrance of local exporters into foreign markets.
The publication of this report comes at a significant time in terms of international trade. The World Economic Forum stressed that, on the whole, economic activity is slow, volumes of trade have fallen and government authorities are adopting institutional reforms and "anti-cyclic" stimulus policies.
Robert Z. Lawrence, academic advisor and co-editor of the report, stated that, "further enabling trade across borders can mitigate the effect of the global crisis, as measures facilitating trade will reduce the transaction cost of trade and therefore partially offset the effects of the demand slump. The report provides guidance on measures that need to be taken."
Over the last two years, the World Economic Forum has sought the guidance of important leaders in the industry, academics and international organizations active in the area of trade in order to identify the main obstacles affecting cross-border trade. This year, special attention has been placed on Customs, one of the key areas of negotiations regarding enabling trade. The report also included a detailed profile of each of the economies analysed by the study.
Source:www.americaeconomia.com