For the second year in a row, Chile is the safest country of Latin America, a study carried out by FTI Consulting (International Forensic Technologies) showed. Chile shares this position with Uruguay and Costa Rica, as it has since 2009.
Honduras President Porfirio Lobo confirmed he would be participating of the European Union-Latin America-Caribbean summit scheduled to take place in Madrid next May 18. Lobo said he was officially invited in March and that a couple of weeks ago Spanish Foreign Secretary Miguel Angel Moratinos rang on the phone to tell him “we will be waiting for you”.
LAN (NYSE: LFL), Chile's dominant airline and flag carrier, announced Thursday it would invest 2.83 billion US dollars between 2010 and 2013 to expand its fleet. CEO Jorge Awad told a shareholder meeting the company would invest 500 million USD in 2010 and 1 billion USD in 2011 to purchase both short and long-haul aircraft.
The earthquake in Chile earlier this year destroyed Chilean processing plants tightening world supply of fishmeal and causing world market prices to hit an all-time high. Chile is the world’s second biggest exporter of fishmeal, second only to Peru.
Latinamerica and the Caribbean are undergoing a strong recovery boosted mainly by agriculture exports, said José Graziano da Silva, head of FAO’s regional office in Panama, during the presentation of the Report on Agriculture and Rural Development 2010 Prospects for Latinamerica.
Colombia’s Green party presidential candidate Antanas Mockus arrives for Wednesday’s night television debate as favourite following on his spectacular rise in public opinion polls.
Brazilian president Lula da Silva discarded any sort of retirement once he steps down from the Executive next December 31 and underlined he will continue to act in politics.
Paraguay’s president Fernando Lugo said he is looking forward to the coming meeting next May 3 with his Brazilian counterpart Lula da Silva because he would be coming back with “good news” referred to the shared power from Itaipu, the world’s second largest hydroelectric dam belonging to both countries.
Latin American economies as a whole are recovering nicely from the global economic downturn but “cheap and abundant external finances raise the risk of a boom-bust cycle”, said Nicolas Eyzaguirre, IMF Western Hemisphere Department Director.
Leaders from the Union of South American Nations, UNASUR are scheduled to meet May 3 and 4 in Buenos Aires with President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner acting as host and Ecuador’s Rafael Correa as temporary chairman.