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International Road Transport Union- IRU
General Assembly
Geneva, Switzerland
April 27, 2012
Jorge Saggiante
Executive Secretary of Integral Development
The Americas
The Americas*
• 35 countries
• Area
42,549,000 km2
• Population
Almost 1000
million (1 billion)
• Pop. Density
21/km2
• Average GDP per
capita
$21,500/year
(nominal)
Europe*
• 50 countries
• Area
10,180,000km2
• Population
739,165,000
• Pop. Density
72/km2
• Average GDP per
capita
$35,116/year
(nominal)
Asia*
• 48 countries
• Area
44,579,000 km2
• Population
3,879,000,000
• Pop. Density
87/km2
• Average GDP
per capita
$11,326/year**
(nominal)
*Source:International Monetary Fund
** Estimated
OAS and the Political Dialogue
Premier Political Forum for dialogue at three levels:
• Presidential / Heads of State
• Ministerial / High policy-making authorities
• Technical level
Political dialogue
consensus
policies.
Concrete Actions
• Cooperation projects
• Exchange of experiences and best practices
• Institutional strengthening / capacity building
• Effective Public Policies
From political priorities and initiatives
to concrete actions and projects
Free Trade Agreements in Latin
America and the Caribbean
75
60
50
40
30
20
10
More than 75 free trade
agreements signed in the
last 20 years
4
0
1990-1995
1996-2000
2001-2005
2006-2010
International and Intra-regional trade
Insufficient participation in
global trade, @ 5% of total.
Low levels of intra-regional trade
EAST ASIA
EUROPEAN
UNION
EAST ASIA
LAC
LAC
TRANSPORTATION COSTS
(Cargo VS. Duties in LAC)
20%
carga
Duties
arancel
Cargo
15%
10%
5%
0%
Source: Inter-American Development Bank, El Estado de la Integración Regional en ALC.
Critical Considerations
• Competitiveness cannot be considered in purely national terms. It is
also a matter of open markets and trade, supported by the
development of technological capabilities and efficient infrastructure.
• To achieve greater intra-regional integration, LAC countries may be
well served if they remove certain administrative barriers to
international road transport which drives progress, prosperity and
peace;
• For that, we must promote public policies to improve the range and
quality of national infrastructure to reduce logistics costs, especially
in transport.
• It is critical to reduce trade barriers by increasing the compatibility
and standardization of customs procedures.
• This is the only way that we will achieve cost efficiency, increased
competitiveness and benefit producers and end consumers.
OAS-IRU RELATIONSHIP
• Public-Private partnership
• Study on International Road Transport in
Mexico as a means to inform political dialogue
and policy-making
• Latin American highways and countries to
promote the joint Latin American Road
Transport Initiative (LARTI)
• South American CARAVAN
OAS-IRU Mexico Study
• Road transport in Mexico accounts for 97% of the total:
– contributes with 16% of tourism GDP and mobilizes 85%
of domestic trade.
• The federal public service road transport consists of 127
thousand companies and 714 thousand vehicles.
• International road transport has not been able to deploy all its
potential
• Need to bring down barriers to:
– cross-border road transport,
– barriers connected to border saturation, and
– barriers derived from asymmetries between countries
and transport systems.
Diagnostic tool to inform political
discussions and promote policy-making