Leaders from the European Union and the Community of Latinamerican and Caribbean States concluded on Sunday a two-day summit with pledges of boosting bilateral trade and while few concrete details were released, the two economic blocs expressed a clear wish for stronger ties.
The first summit of the Community of Latinamerican and Caribbean States, CELAC, the brain child of president Hugo Chavez, paid tribute to the Venezuelan leader who is recovering from cancer surgery in Havana, Cuba, the country that on Monday will be receiving the group’s chair from Chile.
Brazil declared on Sunday three days of national mourning and flags at half mast following the tragedy in the southern university city of Santa Maria where at least 233 people were killed or trampled to death when a disco went on fire.
The IMF downgraded growth estimates for Latinamerica in 2013 from 3.9% to 3.6%, mainly because of an anticipated poor showing of the region’s largest economy Brazil, according to the Fund’s latest report on the world economy prospects.
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said she is unsure about Brazil’s economic outlook despite the country’s official estimate of 3.5% growth this year, since recovery is “very slow” as the 1% of 2012 showed.
Representatives from sixty countries begin Saturday in Santiago de Chile the two day summit which breaks with recent tradition: Latin American countries, full of economic confidence, are hosting their European partners and are expected to volunteer to help with Europe’s economic problems.
The European Union27 international trade in goods with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, (CELAC), has been characterised in recent years by steady growth between 2003 and 2008, a sharp decline in 2009 and a strong recovery since then.
The Falkland Islands will be hosting the 43rd British Islands and Mediterranean Region (BIMR) Annual Conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) from the 11th to 15th February 2013. This is the second time BIMR holds its annual conference in the Falklands, last time was in February 2004.
The government of the Falkland Islands has made a transfer of over 8 million pounds (£ 8.274 million) to the new Oil Development Reserve, a first step towards a ‘Sovereign Wealth Fund’ based on the Norwegian model it was explained at this week’s meeting of the Standing Finance Committee.
Paraguay’s health authorities have reported that sixteen people have died of dengue disease since the beginning of the year, ten directly infected and the other six as a consequence of other complications.