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OAS Secretary General Highlights Services Sector Growth in Latin America

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, participated today in the launch of the book, "Exporting Services: A Developing Country Perspective," published by the World Bank, an event in which he remarked on the remarkable growth of the services sector in Latin America in the past two decades.

During the event, held at the headquarters of the World Bank in Washington, DC, the head of the hemispheric organization recalled that Latin America experienced 150 percent growth in the services sector in the decade of the 90s and 200 percent in the 2000s. "That is really a very impressive performance," he said. "It's the highest performance percentage wise all over the developing world."

He further noted that exports of services have increased "in a dynamic manner" in the region, having grown by seven percent between 1990 and 2000 and 14 percent during the first decade of the century.

In this context, he remarked that "many times there is not enough appreciation for the fact that services are a key to economic growth in developing countries because they are inputs in all economic activities," adding that the services sector "constitutes a large percentage of the value added of exports of both agricultural and manufacturing final products," and as such plays "a really important role in improving the competitiveness of all economic activities."

Insulza also asserted that this new publication by the World Bank "shows there are many opportunities for developing countries to engage in the services trade," and recalled that "almost all countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have signed bilateral and regional trade agreements that do cover services," and many of them are part of multilateral agreements. "What is very useful in the case studies is the emphasis and the importance of the right kind of regulatory framework to allow for the growth of efficient services industry," he concluded.

The head of the OAS was accompanied in the presentation panel by Kimberly Ann Elliot, Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development, and by the editors of the book: Arti Grover Goswami, Aaditya Mattoo, and Sebastian Saez. The event was moderated by Otaviano Canuto, Vice President and Head of Network, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management at the World Bank.

The new book illustrates the determinants of trade in services from developing countries and demonstrates the complex nature of reforms and policy making in the service sector, as well as the benefits of well-implemented reforms.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-027/12