Archives - Page 9

  • Trade negotiations
    No. 27 (1994)

    The cosmopolitan vision of economic activity is a practical reality that conditions the success or failure of macro and microeconomic policies. This has made it necessary to reflect intensely on national concepts and strategies within the framework of open economy models.

    Central America's trade relations with the rest of the world do not escape this reality and are facing a particularly dynamic situation in the international economy. This is clearly reflected in the multilateration of many of the foreign trade sectors, ranging from agriculture and textiles to issues such as trade in services, investment and intellectual property.

    At the same time, we are in the presence of a phenomenon that has been evolving rapidly in international trade relations, which is the formation of regional economic blocs. Suffice it to cite the case of the Single European Market, the Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico, the increasingly close relationship between Japan and Southeast Asia, the horizon offered by the initiative for the Americas, FTAA and Central American Integration, among others.

    These manifestations have determined the need for the countries of the area to prepare themselves to negotiate in a commercial world organized in a different way, in which multilateral, regional and bilateral negotiations coexist, allowing the countries to have access to the necessary instruments to seek better opportunities for our products in other markets.

    This new attitude of Central American countries towards economic policy options in general and trade in particular, compels to negotiate as a sine qua non condition to emerge in a process of trade development. This process generates new issues and problems related to greater participation in the international trade system.

    It is evident that the countries of the Central American isthmus have undertaken actions in this direction. The lessons derived are multiple and of high value for the entire region. It is also clear that in order to capitalize on these lessons, we need to make a substantive effort of analysis, reflection and training, to which the Central American Institute of Public Administration, ICAP, is fully committed, offering on this occasion a selection of papers that were prepared to discuss trade negotiation alternatives.

     

  • International Cooperation Management
    No. 26 (1994)

    In the future, the volumes of economic aid of the 1980s, estimated at approximately US$14 million delivered to the countries of the area between 1981 and 1991 by foreign governments and non-governmental organizations, will probably not return to Central America.

    Currently, there are other priorities in the world that need to be addressed with international cooperation resources, such as the Middle East, Africa, Asia as well as the former socialist countries of Eastern Europe.

    This results in an inevitable trend of diminishing resources to the region, and thus presents us with the dilemma of "doing more with less".

    The change in the flow of international cooperation has created a new situation in which there are both positive and negative aspects. Thus, cooperating countries such as the European Union, the United States, Canada and Japan are becoming more and more concerned about the destination of the funds they provide in order to avoid a repetition of the experiences of corruption and bureaucratic "spider webs". However, there are still obstacles that hinder the delivery of funds to grassroots populations. Among the most serious problems are: very high operating costs, projects formulated from the desk, low institutional capacity to execute them, failure to meet objectives, actions with little social impact, lack of measurement of results and poor compliance in reporting. The list could go on and on, demonstrating the need to develop management capacities in this area.

    In response to this situation, the Central American Institute of Public Administration (ICAP), with financial support from the Special Economic Cooperation Plan for Central America (PEC) of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), has been implementing a training program to address these problems. More than 40 Central American public officials have participated in this program and have been trained not only in aspects of management, information, negotiation of international cooperation, mechanisms and procedures of bilateral and multilateral organizations, but also in methods and techniques for training third parties, because the goal of this program has been to have a broad group of officials from all levels of the state apparatus, the private sector and regional institutions that contribute to modernizing the management of international cooperation in the region.

    In this way, we help to guide the efforts and good intentions of international cooperation, so that its results reach those groups that really need it.

     

  • Perspectives on health in Central America
    No. 25 (1993)

    With the publication of the magazine "Perspectivas de la Salud en Centroamérica", the Central American Institute of Public Administration (ICAP), strengthens an informative and multiplying space of topics in the field of health services management and innovation of care models, mentioning some concrete actions carried out by ICAP, as a response to the regional problems in the field of health. In this sense, an impact approach is included, such as the application of the precepts of total quality to health services, as an administrative strategy for the success of organizations in the sector, in the search for alternatives to improve health investment and competitiveness.

    The conception of positive and productive health has, as a prerequisite, its promotion from an integral and social perspective, an approach shared by the authors in the works presented in this document. This effort is framed within the area of work of ICAP Health Management, and constitutes one more input for the development of applied administrative research and the transfer of experiences, mainly among Central American countries.

    As an example of health promotion with socio-environmental projection, one of the authors addresses the need to mobilize health services to adult workplaces. The feasibility of combining the actions of the State, private enterprise and the individual in the prevention of lethal diseases such as cardiovascular disease is also discussed. The concern of the region's political leaders in designing and implementing health promotion policies, expressed in the different forums and meetings of the Central American Health Sector, is highlighted.

    It should be noted that the works agree on the strategic need to train professionals in charge of health services in health management, so that they can develop skills that will enable them to maneuver the tangible and intangible forces of their respective organizations, to make them more effective, efficient and effective. All the above components are systematized in proposals for new models of care, as an alternative to adapt health systems to the new socio-political and economic contexts; including privatization in the provision of services, a path which, despite its political and social risk, is still an answer for certain social strata. All these approaches are supported by the demographic, social and economic indicators of the region.

    The purpose of this contribution is to stimulate scholars in the region to participate in the discussion on the health perspectives of our countries.

     

  • International trade facilitation
    No. 24 (1993)

    International trade has been identified as the main engine of development during the 1990s and the countries of the Central American region must necessarily respond to its demands and opportunities. In this sense, serious efforts have been made to increase the productivity of our resources and offer competitive products in terms of quality and price, as well as to manage the conditions and application of trade liberalization.

    However, with respect to trade facilitation, the region suffers from a series of deficiencies that limit and harm it during this period of insertion into economic globalization. A true revolution in these services must be adopted soon in order to adapt to the demands of the international market if it is to survive in it.

    Central America faces two alternatives. One is to be an almost passive recipient of the new ways of organizing trade and depend on foreign entities that will enjoy the incentives and benefits. The other is to take advantage of what the region already has and compete aggressively for the significant proportion of the final price of products that services represent.

    Indeed, we are facing a complex situation generated by the opening of our economies within the framework of adjustment and stabilization and the formation of regional trade blocs, which imply that Central American countries will have to compete at a disadvantage with austerity of resources, within sophisticated economic currents, based on capital intensive methods and high technology.

    Given the importance of these events, ICAP has initiated a number of activities to support the trade improvement efforts being made by governments. Among them is the magazine we are making available to you today, which contains the conferences of the Regional Seminar on Facilitation of Intra- and Extra-regional Trade Management in the Framework of the New Integration, held by the Central American Institute of Public Administration, ICAP, in September 1992, with the support of the Regional Office of Scientific and Technical Cooperation for Central America, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of France. It provided an opportunity to learn about and discuss the considerable transformations that will take place in Central America in terms of the ways of organizing international trade services, their technologies and rules of the game.

    It is extremely important for ICAP to address this topic because of the relevance of international trade management in the Institute's member countries, at a time when our region is consolidating democracy and peace and seeking to promote its development on the basis of economic openness and structural adjustment, tasks for which, undoubtedly, the integration and facilitation of international trade are decisive.

     

  • Regional Integration on the Move
    No. 22-23 (1992)

    The rupture of Central American integration in 1969, as a result of the crisis generated by the commercial bias and the concentration of investment in a few countries of the pact, which broke out with the Honduras-El Salvador war, caused a terrible disconcert in Central America and stimulated the dissonant theses with integration, Then the prevailing circumstances in the eighties, of economic, social and political crisis, deepened that vision, as it seemed that the prevailing trend would be the extreme atomization of the Central American countries.

    In May 1986, the Central American Presidents met in Esquipulas, Guatemala, in a historic meeting called "Esquipulas I" to discuss regional problems related to the pacification process, democratization and economic development.

    It was after the Esquipulas Summit that interest in integration began to take shape again. Since then, it appeared as an agenda item in almost all the Presidential Meetings and the debate began in various opinion forums.

    At first, implementation and democratization occupied a privileged place in the Presidential Meetings; however, as détente was achieved, regional integration became more and more important, until it finally became the main focus of discussions and agreements.

    Precisely, as of the Seventh Meeting, held in Montelimar, Nicaragua, in April 1990, they agreed to resume for the next Meeting; a) the restoration, strengthening and reactivation of regional economic integration b) the evolution towards an integrated productive system at a regional level.

    In the "Declaration of Antigua", in June 1990, it is contemplated to "restore and strengthen the process of integration and the organizations, with the aspiration of forming the Economic Community of the Isthmus". It was at this meeting that the creation of the Central American Economic Action Plan (PAECA) was approved to fulfill the commitments of economic and social development. The new concept perceives integration as one of the strategies to expand the regional market and join efforts to negotiate a better insertion in the international market.

    The integration project took shape when the "Tegucigalpa Protocol" (December 1991) contemplated the creation of the Central American Integration System (SICA), which will be the key structure for the new regional integration. This scheme was finally approved at the Panama Summit Meeting, held in December 1992. In this framework, Central America is defined as an integrating community and SICA, as such, will be the legal and institutional framework for the new integration. It is hoped, based on this new concept, to achieve an environment of peace, freedom, democracy and development in these countries.

    It goes without saying that the new approach to integration is a challenge for the new political, economic and social leaders; and whatever the future outcome, it will be part of the history of Central America. This is why we believe that the new Central American integration represents a real challenge.

     

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