
The British Embassy joined the Chilean British Chamber of Commerce and Plan CREO from the city of Antofagasta to host the Seminar “Antofagasta: City, Mining and Sustainability, Where are we headed?” which took place last week at the National Library of the city.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved a 120 million dollars loan to finance the second phase of Uruguay's Strategic International Positioning Program. Its goal is to consolidate the country's international positioning, contributing to an increase in investments—mainly those aimed at high value-added sectors— and exports.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff finally announced on Thursday the appointment of Joaquim Levy, as her next Finance minister who is also known as the 'scissors man', who pledged more realistic fiscal targets and promised more balanced economic growth.

European Union and Mercosur representatives analyzed the current state of negotiations for an association and free trade agreement but could not establish a date for the exchange of new proposals because the European Commission has yet not concluded the consultation process with member states to harmonize its proposal.

Uruguay’s Foreign Minister Luis Almagro highlighted that Mercosur is the “main buyer” of Uruguayan exports and strongly defended the country's presence in the regional group, a controversial issue since much of the country's political system and most of the business community want a more dynamic, open trade block.

Brent and US crude oil plunged as much as 6.50 dollars a barrel on Thursday, the steepest one-day falls since 2011 following on OPEC's decision against cutting output despite a huge oversupply in world markets.

US Federal judge Thomas Griesa has rejected a request by European investors seeking payment on Argentine titles currently blocked in New York, despite an ongoing parallel court battle over the issue in London.

A private report revealed that industrial activity in Argentina dropped 6.1% in October compared to the same period last year, as the manufacturing sector continues to contract pushed by big drops in the auto industry.

Mercosur and the Pacific Alliance explored this week in Chile the possibilities of a gradual, and flexible, integration but left aside all possibility of a near future agreement on tariffs.

Global economic growth in the coming two years is facing difficulties because of problems of recession in Japan and stagnation in the European economies and prospects for healthy growth are stuck in low gear, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said on Tuesday.