Amerikos regiono ekonominė integracija
Author(s) | |
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Miserkejevaitė, Indrė | |
Date Issued |
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2007 |
Straipsnyje analizuojamos ir aprašomos regioninės organizacijos Amerikos žemyne. Valstybės, būdamos gana skirtingos, ieško būdų vienytis. Apžvelgiama susitarimų ir organizacijų istorija. Pietų Amerikoje veikia LAFTA/ALALC, LAIA/ ALADI, CAN, MERCOSUR, Pietų Amerikos tautų sandrauga. Karibų valstybėse – CARICOM. Šiaurės ir Centrinėje Amerikoje – NAFTA ir CAFTA. Taip pat jau daugiau nei dešimtmetį deramasi dėl FTAA susitarimo, apjungsiančio net 34 valstybes Amerikos žemyne. Apibūdinamas šių susitarimų veikimo principas bei pagrindinės problemos, su kuriomis susiduria valstybės, įgyvendindamos regioninę ekonominę integraciją. Pateikiamas kritikų požiūris į susitarimų veiklą.
Countries of Latin America became independant in XIX century. Even then they realizes that they can participate in international negotiations not one by one, but only as a unit, so they need to integrate. However, process of economic integration in Latin America is quite slow and complicated. Countries are too different ir economic, social, political, demographic matters, and this makes decision-making procedure problematic. But still, efforts are visible. Nowadays, two blocs of regional integration are efficient, that is Andean Community of Nations and MERCOSUR. Main aim of these blocs is creating common market and raise standards of economy and social living. Recently, there are attempts to create Southern American Community of Nations that would join those two blocs and few more countries. That would be a prototype of European Union. Still, this idea still is only a declaration and no considerable actions was taken. CARICOM is an economic and political association of the Caribbean nations. Despite its severe difficulties in the 1980s and criticism, CARICOM is considered by many observers to be one of the most successful regional economic arrangements outside of the European Community. NAFTA is the pact that calls for the gradual removal of tariffs and other trade barriers on most goods produced and sold in North America. NAFTA forms the world’s second largest free-trade zone, bringing together 365 million consumers in Canada, Mexico, and the United States in an open market. Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) promotes trade liberalization between the United States and five Central American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Modeled after the NAFTA, CAFTA is widely considered to be a stepping stone to the larger Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) that would encompass 34 economies. In 1994 the United States hosted the Summit of the Americas and proposed the establishment of a hemispheric trading bloc called the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). FTAA attained lots of criticism and didn’t come into effect yet.