Investments

• Monday, March 5th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile and Japan ready to sign FTA at end of March

  

  The Chilean and Japanese governments will sign a free trade agreement (FTA) on March 27, which constitutes a step forward in reinforcing Chile's presence in Asia, where it currently holds agreements with China (2005) and South Korea. The new convention is similar to others agreed to by the European Union (EU) and the United States.

• Tuesday, February 27th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Ecuador to repair roads system with funds to repay creditors

  

  Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa declared Tuesday a national roads system emergency and ordered the Army to begin the construction and maintenance of the country's road network to be financed with funds originally destined to honor foreign debt payments.

• Sunday, February 25th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Indian company and Bolivia at odds over huge steel foundry

  Natural gas price has become the main obstacle for India's Jindal Steel & Power corporation project to develop Bolivia's richest known reserves of iron.

• Wednesday, February 14th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Botnia keeps to plan and opens disputed pulp mill in 3Q

  

  The controversial Botnia-Orion pulp mill under construction in Uruguay and challenged by Argentina, is “keeping to the timetable” and forecasted to be “officially inaugurated” sometime in the third quarter of this year (July-September), according to reliable sources from the Finnish corporation.

• Friday, February 9th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  UNESCO offers help to rebuild Valparaiso historical centre

  

  The head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) offered Chile assistance in repairing damage caused by the fire that destroyed part of the historical centre of the port city of Valparaiso last week, killing several people.

• Friday, February 9th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Brazil and US to boost regional ethanol industry

  

  Ahead of US President George Bush's visit, Brazil announced plans to invest almost 5 billion US dollars over the next 10 years into biotechnology research involving renewable energy, agriculture and rain forest pharmaceuticals.

• Tuesday, February 6th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  ”Argentina top ten to live in'

  

  Argentina for the first time made it to the top ten club that examines the best countries to live in, with France leading for the second year running and war-torn Iraq remaining at the bottom, also for the second year running, according to the latest ranking from International Living magazine.

• Tuesday, January 23rd 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Lula da Silva unveils massive 2007/10 investment plan

  Brazil's president Lula da Silva unveiled on Monday an economic package with the purpose of boosting growth to 5% annually by 2008 through a combination of public and private spending.

• Tuesday, January 16th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Pulp mills dispute: Botnia willing to sit and discuss

  Finland's Botnia is willing to sit and discuss with Argentina and Uruguay a negotiated solution to the controversy over the building of a pull mill in Uruguay which Argentina argues will be highly contaminating.

• Friday, January 12th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Cellulose at highest value in eleven years

  

  The value of cellulose rose to 735 US dollars per ton this week, according to industry indicators, the highest price for cellulose since February 16th, 1996