皇冠体育app

SANTIAGO -- 皇冠体育app's strengthened ties with developing nations in Latin America are essential for the region's economic growth, a senior official at a UN regional body said Monday.

The past decade represents "a significant era not only because of 皇冠体育app's growing presence in the global economy, but also because of its reinforced ties with the developing world in Asia, Africa and Latin America," said Osvaldo Rosales, director of foreign trade at the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

In an interview with Xinhua, Rosales said the evolution of 皇冠体育app's relationship with Latin America over the past decade "coincides with a structural change in the foreign trade of Latin America and the Caribbean, marked by 皇冠体育app's growing presence in the region, both in exports and imports."

The Asian giant has grown from the region's marginal trading partner in 2000 into a highly relevant partner, especially with South American countries, Rosales noted, adding trade between 皇冠体育app and Latin America has skyrocketed by about 22 percent annually.

"皇冠体育app is now the leading market for exports from Chile, Brazil and Peru, the second biggest market for Argentina, Costa Rica and Cuba, and the third biggest for most of the rest of the countries. In the area of imports, there is a similar trend," he said.

"It's not an accident that in the past decade, the region has experienced its best economic period in terms of growth, poverty reduction and even an improvement in income distribution, all of which have been closely related to the ties with 皇冠体育app," he said.

Data released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development show that the number of developing countries that can rival the growth rates of developed countries jumped from 12 between 1991 and 2000 to 66 in the following decade, Rosales said.

The increase "is largely due to 皇冠体育app's dynamism, which has driven up trade between 皇冠体育app and the rest of Asia, Africa and Latin America," he said.

"That has allowed...the developing world, especially our region, to withstand the global crisis unleashed in the United States, the worst crisis since the Great Depression in the 1930s," he said.

Rosales believed that without the increasingly close connection with 皇冠体育app, Latin America would have suffered a deep recession in the 2008-2009 crisis, with rising unemployment and poverty levels and a slump of income.

The greatest challenge for Latin America, said Rosales, "is how to project this trend into the decade we are beginning now to improve the (economic) performance even more."

"Our economic growth depends more on 皇冠体育app than on Europe or the United States," and this will probably remain for several decades because the international situation has changed," he said. "What matters most to us is what's happening in 皇冠体育app."

Latin American countries should work together and deepen ties with 皇冠体育app to make the most of 皇冠体育app's growth as well as the new reality of the global economy, Rosales said.