A Latin American decade?
Source: www.economist.com (Adapted) Sep 9th, 2010
Summit meetings involving Latin America's presidents are so
frequent these days that Mexico's Mr Calderón has likened diplomacy in
the region to a mountain range. Yet for all the talk of regional
integration, political Latin America looks more divided than ever. Mr
Chávez likes to threaten war against Colombia, which in turn accuses him
of harbouring its FARC guerrillas. Sub-regional trade groups such as
Mercosur and the Andean Community, which made progress in the 1990s,
have stagnated or fallen apart.
Yet while politicians
bicker, corporate Latin America is quietly moving closer together. A
growing army of multilatinas have expanded abroad. Some, like Embraer or
Bimbo, have become global multinationals. Many others, including
Chilean retailers and Brazilian banks and construction firms, have
expanded within Latin America. Some Mexican firms, led by América Móvil,
a telecoms giant, are moving into Brazil. Until recently such firms
tended to list their shares in New York, but now a Latin American
capital market is poised to emerge. In three to five years there will be
a seamless network of Latin American stock exchanges, including
Mexico's, reckons Mr Oliveira of BRAIN Brasil.
The
market-oriented reforms of the 1980s and 1990s, combined with a few
years of commoditydriven prosperity, are transforming Latin American
business.
According to the text, "there will be a seamless network of Latin American stock exchanges", which means this network will
