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The Inter-American Development Bank’s Office in Asia is helping embassies in Latin America and the Caribbean produce promotional materials to boost Japan’s trade and investments in the region.
Japanese investments in Latin America and the Caribbean account for 10 percent of Japan’s direct investment worldwide. The economic interests of the two regions being mutually complementary, this figure is expected to grow. The combination of Latin America’s natural resources and Japan’s technology creates a dynamic conducive to economic growth and sustained competitiveness.
“The obstacles that limited relationships have disappeared: Japan has recovered from the so-called ‘lost decade’ of the 1990s, and Latin America is much more globalized, prosperous and modern than it was 25 years ago,” said Takeo Shikado, the IDB Representative in Asia. “Japanese companies have recently made investments in many Latin American countries, including Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Argentina. Countries such as Chile and Mexico have signed free-trade agreements with Japan. With these developments, we foresee renewed momentum in the economic relationships between the two regions,” he concluded.
“We need to promote this, because even though Japan has investments in Peru, its presence doesn’t match Peru’s economic potential or its possibilities,” said Peru’s Ambassador to Japan, Hugo Palma. Added Jorge Osella, minister of Argentina’s Embassy in Japan, “Foreign investment is especially interesting for Argentina, in order to sustain its economic model. The challenge we face is to boost Japanese investments in Argentina”
Since it was established in 1995, the IDB’s Office in Asia has played an important role as a bridge between the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean and those of Japan and the Republic of Korea. The Office in Asia has helped strengthen cooperation and economic relationships between the two regions, supporting the IDB Group in its mission to promote equitable and sustained economic development among its borrowers.