Colombian state oil company Ecopetrol and its South Korean counterpart, Korea National Oil Corporation, have acquired Peruvian private oil firm Petro-Tech Peruana S.A. for 900 million US dollars.
Bolivia and Russia signed a long term agreement on investment and cooperation in the area of gas and petroleum research which is estimated could reach 3 billion US dollars, it was announced in La Paz.
United States Agco Corp. warned that industry-wide farm-equipment sales in South America could fall by almost a third this year due to drought and tough credit conditions.
Chile's trade surplus plunged 70% to 667 million US dollars during January compared to the previous month according to the latest release from the Central Bank. This also compares negatively with the 2.3 billion US dollars of the same month a year ago.
Germany was the world's biggest goods exporter for a sixth straight year in 2008, staying just ahead of China by shifting nearly 1.5 trillion US dollars worth of merchandise, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said on Monday.
Bolivia and Venezuelans, South Africans and citizens from Lesotho and Swaziland visiting the United Kingdom will need a visa, under new rules issued by the Home Office. The named countries failed a test of the threat posed by their citizens in terms of security, immigration and crime.
Seven Venezuelan police agents and four civilians have been arrested in connection with an attack on a synagogue, according to reports in the Caracas press. President Hugo Chavez, whom Jewish groups accuse of encouraging anti-Semitism, referred to the arrests and said the attack was led by a police officer who had worked closely with the rabbi at the synagogue.
Bolivian President Evo Morales is scheduled to visit Russia February 16 to sign formal agreements enabling Russia's state-run OAO Gazprom to invest in Bolivia's natural gas industry.
Ecuador's left-wing president has ordered the expulsion of a senior US diplomat, accusing him of suspending aid to Ecuador's anti-drugs programme.
The global financial crisis could cause poverty to rise in Latin America by as much as 15% this year, a senior UN official has warned. Rebeca Grynspan, regional head of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), said Latin American governments needed to take action urgently.