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A publication of The Canadian Council for the Please click on each headline for this week's top stories. 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
Regional News 2. Argentine Tax Plan Defeated by Vice President’s Vote 3. CRM Growth in Latin America Driven by Retail and Wholesale Sectors 4. EU Ready to Yield on Banana Trade Dispute 5. Ecuador , Venezuela to Build Biggest Oil Refinery 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 If you are interested in visiting the fair or in sending brochures to be distributed there, please contact Claudia Gutierrez, the Trade Commissioner at the Canadian Embassy in Bogotá, Colombia. 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 Regional News
Excerpt from original article: The World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved on July 15 a US$30 million loan to enhance Chile’s policy and institutional innovation framework for competitiveness through priority programs in critical areas. The initiative will help improve the international competitiveness of Chile’s economy and stimulate sustained economic growth and job creation by adding value to production and diversifying exports. It would do this by strengthening Chile’s capacity to compete as a knowledge economy. Innovation is a top priority in Chile’s competitiveness agenda. Becoming a knowledge economy means dding value to sectors where Chile has demonstrated comparative advantages while supporting key emerging sectors,” said Pedro Alba, World Bank Country Director for Chile, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.“The project supports key elements of the national innovation strategy with a strong emphasis on building robust institutional foundations.” The project builds on the support provided to the Government of Chile through policy advice and two prior investment projects – the Millennium Science Initiative and the Science for the Knowledge Economy Project. It will help align innovation programs to the priority clusters defined in the proposed national innovation strategy. Among the priority areas of intervention, mechanisms to transfer technology to small and medium enterprises and to promote the emergence of new knowledge-based ventures will be enhanced. The Specific Investment Loan (SIL) for US$30 million has a total maturity of 10.5 years including 6 years of grace. For the full story, click here Argentine's Tax Plan Defeated by Vice President's Vote Excerpt from original article: Argentine Vice President Julio Cobos cast his tie-breaking Senate vote to defeat a bill backing higher export taxes imposed by President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, handing farmers a victory in their four-month campaign to kill the new levy. Fernandez's tax system on grains and oilseeds boosted levies on soybeans to more than 40 percent from a previous fixed rate of 35 percent. The bill rejected today would have mitigated the increase by reimbursing a portion of the tax to small producers. The farm crisis has taken a toll on consumer confidence and economic growth forecasts in Argentina, South America's second- largest economy. Merrill Lynch & Co. cut its economic growth forecast for this year on June 30 to 6.8 percent from 7.5 percent as the crisis dragged on. Barclays Capital economist Eduardo Levy- Yeyati said growth will slow to 2.5 percent next year, the slowest since the economic crisis at the start of the decade. For the full story, click here CRM Growth in Latin America Driven by Retail and Wholesale Sectors Excerpt from original article: Strong demand from retailers and wholesalers, together with new call center projects, will drive the growth of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications in Latin America in 2008, Sharon Mertz, research director at Gartner, told BNamericas. "[There is growth] more in the retail and the consumer services area," she said. "I think that financial services are also contributing to a certain extent." Mertz said that CRM sales in Latin America grew 30.5% between 2006 and 2007, topping out at more than US$145mn. The strongest growth came from Mexico and Brazil, while Chile and Argentina also saw notable increases. Gartner's study said CRM sales are concentrated in North America and Europe, which together account for 53% of all revenues. Still, the organization said that increased demand in emerging markets, specifically Latin America and Asia, are boosting sales. The Gartner study said worldwide CRM services grew by 23% between 2006 and 2007, reaching US$8.1bn. SAP (NYSE: SAP) and Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) were the top vendors, accounting for 25.4% and 16.3% of all sales, respectively. For the full story, click here EU Ready to Yield on Banana Trade Dispute Excerpt from original article: The European Commission said on Wednesday it was ready to make concessions in a long-running trade dispute with Latin America over bananas in order to advance struggling WTO negotiations. The commission said it was prepared to accept a settlement proposed by WTO chief Pascal Lamy that calls for Europe to gradually reduce its import tariff to 116 euros (185 dollars) per tonne by 2015 from 176 euros currently. Latin American banana producers have successfully challenged the EU's banana import regime before the World Trade Organisation on the grounds that it discriminates against them in favour of poor African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. Although the United States does not export bananas to the EU itself, it too won a WTO lawsuit against the EU's import regime, which it filed because three of the largest producers with plantations in Latin America are US-based multinationals -- Chiquita, Del Monte and Dole. For the full story, click here Ecuador, Venezuela to Build Biggest Oil Refinery Excerpt from original article: Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez Tuesday signed an agreement on jointly building the biggest oil refinery on South America's Pacific Coast. Located in El Aromo in the coastal Ecuadorian province of Manabi, the refinery is expected to start operation in 2013 with a daily capacity of 300,000 barrels of oil, according to the agreement signed in El Aromo. It can produce gasoline, diesel, and liquefied gas from petroleum. The refinery is also capable of supplying fertilizers, plastics and polyethylene. The initial capital for its construction is estimated at 30 million U.S. dollars. The two countries said that Venezuela's state-run oil firm PDVSA and its Ecuadorian counterpart Petroecuador will finance the total investment of 6.6 million dollars, or they may open the project to international investment. At the launching ceremony, Correa said the project will save Ecuador 3 billion dollars per year as it helps cut the country's oil imports. 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
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designed to provide the most up-to-date trade information from a variety of
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Council’s opinion on a given international trade issue. Although we
endeavour to disclose accurate and timely information, there can be no
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