The Changing Nature of Asian-Latin American Economic Relations

The Swift expansion of developing Asia is probably the most significant structural change in the world economy of the twenty-first century. For the remainder of this second decade of the twenty-first century, developing Asia will probably continue to be the growth engine of the world, in a context of weak growth prospects for the developed countries. Latin America, and in particular South American, have strongly benefited from developing Asia's surge. China has become one of the region's main trade partners. Despite their benefits, strengthened trans-Pacific economic relations have also become a cause for concern in Latin America, due to major imbalances of different kinds. To shed more light on these issues, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) of the Republic of korea and the Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean (ECLAC) organized the joint research project "Changing nature of Asia-Latin America economic relations". This book captures the outcomes of the research projects. Its purpose is twoford. On the one hand, it aims to document the growing investment and trade relations between Latin America and Asia, as well as some of their imbalances. On the other hand, it provides several examples on how to upgrade trans-Pacific economic relations. This book is offered to the Asian and Latin American policymaking, academic and business communities, as a contribution to bridging the gaps in our knowledge of economic relations between the two regions. Book jacket.