|
A publication of The Canadian Council for the Please click on each headline for this week's top stories. CCA Events 1. CCA Board and Annual General Meeting
Trade Missions, Seminars and Other Events Washington - United States of America 2. South American Productivity Leadership Forum Bogatá - Colombia 2. International Fair of Bogotá - Industrial Exhibition Monterrey - Mexico 3. Women's Trade Mission to Monterrey, Mexico October 21 - 24, 2008
Special Announcements 5. Diplomatic Appointments in Panama, Peru, and Haiti 6. Trilateral Canada-Mexico-United States Transportation Meeting 6. Secretary of State Guergis to Visit Belize and Guatemala
Regional News 2. ECLAC Develops Projects to Improve Trade Relation Between Asia-Pacific and Latin America 3. ISA: 80% of Revenues to Come from Abroad in 2016 4. Latin America ’s Economies: The Ghost at the Till 5. Caribbean Venture Capital Industry Gets Boost from IDB CCA Events
CCA Board and Annual General Meeting (This event is for CCA members only) Dear Valued CCA Board Members and/or Members, We have scheduled July 17th for our next Board and Annual General Meeting. Members are encouraged to participate in the AGM. Your input is valuable and participation most welcomed. Please join us! Date: Time: Location: For further information please contact Andreia Santos by email at cca@iecanada.com or by phone at 416-595-5333 ext. 42. Trade Missions, Seminars
and Other Events
South American Productivity Leadership Forum "CATALYZING SOUTH AMERICAN COMPETITIVENESS" The South American Productivity Leadership Forum (SAPLF) hosts the projects that are integrating the continent, boosting continent-wide productivity and offering near-term development opportunities. As a part of the Leadership Forum series, the South American Productivity Leadership Forum is a dynamic combination of project presentations, private meetings and ‘deep dives’ into specific issues and CEO/political leadership presentations. Wednesday, July 23 & 24 2008 Bogatá - Colombia
The International Fair of Bogotá is an industrial event that will be held from September 29 to October 5, 2008. The fair, that gathers more than 50, 000 business representatives from different sectors, is open exclusively to buyers that would like to acquire cutting edge technologies for their industries. The Embassy of Canada in Colombia will participate at the International Fair of Bogotá - Industrial Exhibition with an information booth. Canadian companies/associations interested in exploring business opportunities and in promoting their technologies in Colombia, are welcome to join the embassy at no cost. They can use the embassy's booth as a meeting point and/or to distribute their companies' information. September 29- October 3 2008 Claudia Gutiettez Monterrey - Mexico Organization of Women in International Trade Join Trade Mission to Mexico Deadline: July 31st, 2008 (The earlier you register, the better, to ensure maximum time to plan most effective business matching for you.) Click here to view a complete invitation to the event. For information please contact: Gail Morris The Honourable David Emerson, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today announced the following diplomatic appointments:
For further information, media representatives may contact: Lynn Meahan or additinaly Foreign Affairs Media Relations Office For further details, please click here
Trilateral Transportation Meeting TRILATERAL TRANSPORTATION CANADA-MEXICO-UNITED STATES MEETING Trilateral Transportation Meeting On the occasion of the second Trilateral meeting held on June 9 and 10, 2008 in Ottawa and Meech Lake, the Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities (right) along with United States Secretary of Transportation, Mary E. Peters (centre), and Mexican Secretary of Communications and Transportation Luis Téllez Kuenzler (left) signed the following Trilateral Ministerial Declaration. To view the Trilateral Ministerial Declaration, please click here Secretary of State Guergis to Visit Belize and Guatemala The Honourable Helena Guergis, Secretary of State (Foreign Affairs and International Trade) (Sport), will visit Belize and Guatemala from July 10 to 16, 2008, as part of Canada’s renewed engagement in the Americas. “Belize and Guatemala are important partners for Canada in Central America and in multilateral forums such as the Organization of American States,” said Secretary of State Guergis. “This trip will reinforce our commitment to playing a larger role in the Americas, and provide an excellent opportunity to exchange views on crucial issues of security, prosperity, and the core values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.” While in Belize, the Secretary of State is scheduled to meet with Sir Colville Young, Governor General; Dean Barrow, Prime Minister; Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade; and other key government officials. She will also visit youth projects supported by Canada, and the office of the Organization of American States in the Belize-Guatemala Adjacency Zone. In Guatemala, Secretary of State Guergis is scheduled to meet with President Álvaro Colom and Haroldo Rodas, minister of External Relations, and with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rigoberta Menchú. Ms. Guergis will also meet with national and local government officials, and representatives of the Canadian business and investing communities. In addition, she will visit a Habitat for Humanity project supported by Canadian volunteers. Canada’s engagement with Guatemala includes strong economic ties as well as cooperation on the international response in Haiti, where Guatemalan and Canadian personnel are working together. Regional News
Excerpt from original article: Energía Austral, a subsidiary of multinational resource group Xstrata (LSE: XTA), reported it has signed a framework agreement with Chilean transmission company Transelec for the design of a transmission line for hydro plants in southern Chile's region XI. The first stage of the project, involving studies and permitting, is expected to be complete by the first quarter of 2011, after which construction can start. Meanwhile Transelec is developing a line exclusively for the HidroAysén JV that is developing a 2.75GW hydro project in Chile's south, BNamericas reported in June In Chile Xstrata owns the Lomas Bayas copper mine, the Altonorte smelter, 44% of the Collahuasi copper mine and is developing the El Morro JV project, all in the country's north. It also has the El Pachón copper project across the border in Argentina's San Juan province, and 50% of the Alumbrera mine in Catamarca. For the full story, click here ECLAC Develops Project to Improve Trade Relations Between Asia-Pacific and Latin America From original article: The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the government of the Republic of Korea signed an agreement to implement the project "Latin American Logistic and Infrastructure Connection and the Potentials for Improving Trade Relationships with Asia-Pacific". The agreement was signed by ECLAC Executive Secretary José Luis Machinea and the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea in Chile, Yim Chang-soon. The Korean government will provide funds to finance the initiative. The project includes an analysis of the physical, economic and operational conditions of transportation corridors in order to determine the influence of infrastructure and logistics costs on Latin American development. Complementary investment in infrastructure and possible measures to improve the business environment will also be studied. ECLAC data shows that economic and political ties between Latin America and Asia-Pacific have grown enormously through direct Asian investment in the region and greater trade between both regions. In 2005, Latin American and Caribbean exports to Asia-Pacific reached a total of US$48.5 billion (equivalent to 9% of total Latin American exports), while Asian imports in the region totalled US$97.1 billion (20.5% of total imports). On July 27, 2007, the United Nations Economic and Social Council approved the inclusion of the Republic of Korea as 44 th member of ECLAC, becoming the second Asian country member of this regional commission, after Japan. For the original story, click here ISA: 80% of Revenues to come from Abroad in 2016 Excerpt from original article: Colombian state transmission company ISA is proceeding with its international expansion plan and aims to hit revenues of US$3.5bn by 2016, a company spokesperson told BNamericas. The company posted revenues of US$1.61bn in 2007. According to the company's 'MEGA' business plan, 80% of revenues will come from operations outside Colombia by 2016, the official said. ISA intends to become one of the three largest transmission companies in the Americas and the biggest in Latin America. ISA aims to manage 50% of bi-national power sales in Latin America. ISA also plans to enter other industries including natural gas transportation, the spokesperson said. The company, already Latin America's second largest transmission company behind Mexico's CFE, holds subsidiaries in Brazil, Peru and Central America. For the full story, click here Latin America's Economies: The Ghost at the Till Excerpt from original article: Bitter experience has made Latin Americans intolerant of inflation. But have their policymakers banished this spectre? Unlike the developed world, Latin America has been barely touched so far by the credit crunch. Many of its economies are still growing fast, helped by demand for their commodity exports. But the commodity boom has started to have a less desirable effect: soaring food and fuel prices are pushing inflation up across the region. This has become a test of credibility for Latin America’s new-found economic stability, and for its central banks. Some of the more important ones have responded more robustly than many of their Asian peers—even if claims that Brazil’s hawkish Central Bank is “the new Bundesbank” require a pinch of salt. The regional average inflation rate rose to 7.5% in April, from 5.2% a year before, according to the IMF. This is an underestimate, since Argentina’s official inflation figure of 9.1% is probably less than half the true rate. It also conceals a divide. Around the turn of the decade, several of the larger countries adopted floating exchange rates, and inflation targets administered by more-or-less independent central banks. Another group of countries—including Argentina and Venezuela—have given greater priority to growth than to price stability. But even among the first group, inflation has been rising. In response, central banks in Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru began to raise interest rates last year. Even so, they have missed their inflation targets, in most cases for the first time The test will be whether or not inflation is heading down by the end of this year. If it is not, more drastic action will be required, which might make a big dent in economic growth. The wiser among the region’s politicians know that, costly though it may be, the fight against inflation is one they cannot afford to lose. Already, price rises threaten to tip several million Latin Americans back into poverty. Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, though a man of the left, has given strong backing to the Central Bank’s bitter medicine. Inflation is a “degrading disease”, he says. It is a malady that long debilitated Latin America. That is why the region is relatively intolerant of it now. For the full story, click here Caribbean Venture Capital Indusrty Gets Boost from IDB Excerpt from original article: The Inter-American Development Bank’s Multilateral Investment Fund announced today the approval of a US$500,000 financing to strengthen the venture capital industry in Latin America and the Caribbean. The project has a regional focus, but will target in particular Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay, countries with a basic minimum level venture capital development. “Fund managers, investors, entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises will be the beneficiaries of a more developed regional venture capital industry,” said García-Robles. Financing for this operation comes from MIF’s Small Enterprise Development Facility. LAVCA counterpart funds will total US$250,000. Additionally, the Andean Development Corporation or Corporacion Andina de Fomento will provide US$250,000 to the program . For the full story, click here This newsletter has been brought to you in part by: CCA Communication Committee: David Medina and Andreia Santos For suggestions or comments about our CCA Bulletin feel free to contact us by email at cca@iecanada.com If you do not wish to continue receiving the CCA Update, contact us at: cca@iecanada.com. Type in Unsubscribe in the Subject line. Disclaimer – CCA Update
is provided as an information service to our members and key contacts. It is
designed to provide the most up-to-date trade information from a variety of
sources. The information we feature does not necessarily reflect the
Council’s opinion on a given international trade issue. Although we
endeavour to disclose accurate and timely information, there can be no
guarantee that such information is accurate as of the date it is received or
that it will continue to be accurate in the future. The Canadian Council for
the |
