Man with a plan.

I am convinced that free trade is beneficial to many countries, if and when they are prepared to withstand competition from developed countries. The greatest crime committed by the countries of Latin America is the search for free-trade agreements without planning for it.

Most Latin American countries have stubbornly stuck with just three big markets, the United States, Japan and the European Union, which are becoming stricter and more protectionist and take 70% to 80% of our exports. We have not paid enough attention to the markets that are geographically closer, share a language and customs and have markets similar in size to our own. This strategy, which would permit us to create bigger economies of scale, later would permit us to be more competitive facing the big-league blocs.

The logical move would be to negotiate as a regional bloc or as part of a 36-country Free Trade Area of the Americas, face up to the North American Free Trade Agreement bloc and then attack, based on this experience, markets besides the Big Three. That would lead to better results for the region.

Rafael Plaza Magot

Lima, Peru