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Formation of Alliance:
It has been observed that unlike European countries, Latin
American (LA) countries havenot succeeded in formation of strong
alliance like European Union. The sole purpose of
such alliance is to increase the market size and increase the
competitiveness among the
countries. One of the vital reasons for success of alliance like
EU is that most of the
participating countries have similarities in terms of standard
of living, culture,
economical status etc. On the contrary, when it comes to LA
countries, it seems a tough
nut to crack to establish successful unions or alliance among
countries due to
differences in natural resources, per capita income, culture and
due to disrespect for
other countries.
Suggestion for future action:Leading countries in LA like
Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Chileshould take the initiative of
creating strong alliance while keeping out the other
disturbing countries. After they set the trend by generating
strong growth for the union,
other smaller countries will get attracted to join the union
which will benefit Argentina
and other countries of LA.
Trade Relations:
Due to the absence of effective trade union in LA, Argentina has
been focusing its exports in
EU (European Union). In fact, after Brazil EU is the second
largest export market forArgentina. Moreover half of the FDI in
Argentina is from EU (EU investment stocks were
worth 44.2 billion in 2011)
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Suggestions for future:
As Argentina has been successful in maintaining good trade
relationships with EU, it can
focus on similar trade relations with the countries in LA. From
the above data, it is obvious
that trade balance is positive in case of services where as it
is negative in case of goods.
Hence, Argentina should focus on increasing exports of
goods.
Argentina-Brazil Relationship:
Brazil is the largest export market for Argentina. From the
figure, it is evident that over
the years the bilateral exports has been increasing. In future,
Argentina should try to
keep similar trade relations with other potential nations in
LA.
Even though there is rivalry and historical suspicions regarding
nuclear weapon
development, Brazil's policies during the most difficult period
of Argentina's recent
history (near-conflict with Chile and the Falklands War) were
fundamental in building
trust between the two countries.
Argentina-Chile relations:
Argentina and Chile share the third-longest international
border, which is 5300 km long.
During 20th century, relations between the countries got
affected due to disputes over
Patagonia, though recent years have shown dramatic improvement
in relationship.
Maipu Treaty of Integration and Cooperation was signed on
30th
October 2009
between the countries for peace and friendship. It seems that
the positive impact of the
agreement will follow in future years.
Argentina US relations:
US is Argentina's 4th
largest export market and 3rd
largest source of imports (mainly
industrial supplies such as machinery and chemicals).
Argentine public opinion regarding US foreign policies was
sceptical and it improved
during Obama administration.
In future, it seems that there will be decent bilateral
relationship between the two
nations as both have common strategic interests like
counternarcotics,
counterterrorism, the fight against human trafficking as well as
the strength of
commercial ties.
