This third Annual Bank Conference on Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) focuses on trade liberalization policy, specifically "open regionalism," a term coined to describe the fact that 1) regionalism has gone hand in hand with unilateral trade opening:statistics on tariff and non-tariff measures affecting imports show that protectionist policies have been dismantled in the major LAC countries during the last decade; 2) regionalism has gone hand in hand with a substantial liberalization of investment regimes:provisions, including national treatment provisions, in regional trading arrangements show that several LAC countries treat foreign direct investment on exactly the same footing as domestic investment; and 3) most LAC countries are willing to participate in building a hemispheric free-trade zone and have been active, pro-liberalization members of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Speeches emphasized the political returns from trade integration:reciprocal lock-in, alliances created among pro-reform factions, pro-integration movements across countries, civil society integration, more-likely peaceful settlements to disputes, and general advancement of harmony in the Western Hemisphere through atmospherics, through positive incentive structures, and through cross-country coalitions. Because these positive linkages are largely implicit and not unduly burdensome, they make regional integration consistent with convergence toward global trade integration.

Description based on print version record.