ISDS Case Map
Bolivia
Little by little, South America is dividing itself into two very different trade blocks. Mercosur, based on Brazil and Argentina and recently joined by Venezuela, is relatively protectionist and suspicious of bilateral trade deals with the United States. Most countries on the Pacific seaboard are committed to free trade with both el norte and Asia.
In this interview, Raúl Zibechi discusses the challenges of the Evo Morales administration in Bolivia, the power and role of Bolivian social movements, projects for regional integration such as People's Trade Agreement and the Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America and the region's new situation after the electoral victories of various "progressive" governments.
A cornerstone of Bolivia's new economy is the People's Trade Agreement (PTA, or TCP in Spanish), a progressive international trade and integration strategy. Based upon traditional indigenous principles of cooperation, complementarity and solidarity, the PTA is a form of collaboration between nations or communities that reasserts public control over the economy and attempts to recast the role of the corporation from that of "master" to "partner" in a process of sustainable development.
The government of President Evo Morales said Friday it hopes to negotiate a free trade agreement with the U.S., a policy turnaround apparently influenced by pressure from business groups.
Will recent nationalisations in Bolivia give rise to claims under political risk insurance policies?
It may be advantageous for foreign investors to pursue a claim under a Political Risk insurance policy and allow the insurers to recover subsequently under any applicable investment treaty by way of subrogation.
The foreign ministers of the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) forged ahead in attempts to quiet fears of an imminent collapse of the bloc following Venezuela's withdrawal, despite member-country political differences that were all too evident at the regional summit.
Venezuela's president Hugo Chávez, Brazil's president Lula Inacio da Silva, and Nestor Kirchner, president of Argentina, met in Sao Paulo, Brazil on April 26 to discuss possibilities for integration and collaboration. On April 29, Cuba's president Fidel Castro met with Chávez and newly elected Bolivian president Evo Morales to sign a People Trade Agreement (TPC), which is seen as a step towards the alternative trade agreement being proposed by Chávez, the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA).
Here is an agreement that isn't defensive, but offensive in a truly positive sense. It starts from Andean principles of solidarity, complementarity, reciprocity and co-existence with nature, which contrast radically with current trade regimes that extend rights to capital and multinationals regardless of the cost.
The Ministers of Health of ten South American countries issued a
joint declaration on intellectual property committing themselves to
avoid "TRIPS plus" provisions in bilateral and regional trade agreements,
to facilitate the use of compulsory licensing and parallel importing and to
avoid broadening the scope of patentability and the extension of
patentable areas.
Bolivia's President Evo Morales on Thursday urged Colombia, Peru and Ecuador to kill their free trade agreements with the United States, so as to keep the Andean Community alive. Meanwhile, Peru's President Alejandro Toledo said the Andean Community would now seek to launch trade talks with the EU, with or without Venezuela and Bolivia.
