Latin American Integration Association

The Latin American Integration Association (ALADI) is an international organization with a regional scope. It was created on August 12, 1980 by the Montevideo Treaty of 1980, replacing the Latin American Free Trade Association (ALALC). Currently, it has 13 member states in Latin America; Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. Any Latin American country can apply to join the integration process.

Objectives

ALADI was formed with the purpose of:

• Reduce and phase out barriers to mutual trade in their member countries.
• Promote the development of links of solidarity and cooperation among Latin American peoples.
• To promote the economic and social development of the region in a harmonious and balanced manner in order to ensure a better standard of living for its peoples.
• Renew the process of Latin American integration, and establish mechanisms applicable to regional reality.
• Create an area of economic preferences with the ultimate objective of establishing a common Latin American market.

General Principles

• Pluralism in political, social and economic matters
• Progressive convergence of partial actions towards the formation of a Latin American common market
• Flexibility
• Differential treatments based on the level of development of member countries
• Multiplicity in ways of concluding trade instruments

Integration Mechanisms

ALADI promotes the creation of an area of economic preferences in the region, with the ultimate goal of achieving a Latin American common market, through three mechanisms:

• One regional tariff preferencewhich applies to products originating from member countries against the existing tariffs for third countries.
• Regional-range agreementscommon to all member countries.
• Partial-range agreementswith the participation of two or more countries in the area.

ALADI Agreements

The countries classified as having lower relative economic development in the region (Bolivia, Ecuador and Paraguay) enjoy a preferential system. Through the market opening lists that the countries offer in favor of the PMDER; special cooperation programs (business roundtables, pre-investment, financing, technological support); and compensatory measures in favor of the Mediterranean countries, the full participation of these countries in the integration process is sought. ALADI accommodates in its legal structure the most vigorous subregional, plurilateral and bilateral integration agreements that are increasingly emerging on the continent. Consequently, it is up to the Association -as the institutional and normative framework or "umbrella" of regional integration- to develop actions tending to support and promote these efforts in order to make them converge progressively in the creation of a common economic space.

Members of ALADI

Band.	Esc.	Country	Capital	Date of entry	Population	Surface	E.E. Area + Ground surface	Currency	per capita GDP ($)
		Argentina	Buenos Aires	Founder	40 117 096	2 780 400 (1)	3 939 463 (5)	Argentine peso	20 500
		Bolivia	Sucre	Founder	10 426 160	1 098 581		Bolivian	7 200
		Brazil	Brasilia	Founder	202 768 562	8 514 877	12 175 832	Brazilian Real	15 200
		Chile	Santiago de Chile	Founder	17 094 275	756 096 (2)	4 438 085 (6)	Chilean peso	24 000
		Colombia	Bogotá	Founder	51 149 498	1 141 748	1 949 906	Colombian peso	16 803
		Cuba	Havana	1999	11 242 621	110 860 (3)	460 637	Cuban peso, Cuban peso convertible	11 600
		Ecuador	Quito	Founder	14 306 876	283 561	1 333 600	American dollar	11 000
		Mexico	Mexico City	Founder	112 322 757	1 972 550	5 150 092	Mexican peso	18 900
		Paraguay	Assumption	Founder	6 818 180	406 752		Guaraní	9 400
		Panama	Panama City	2012	4 001 033	78 569	411 163	Balboa, American dollar	22 800
		Peru	Lima	Founder	30 814 175	1 285 216	2 191 670	Sun	13 000
		Uruguay	Montevideo	Founder	3 286 214	176 215	318 381	Uruguayan peso	21 600
		Venezuela	Caracas	Founder	33 221 865	916 445 (4)	1 387 952	Bolívar	15 100

⁽¹⁾ Argentina's land surface reaches 3,761,274 km² if the claimed territories of Argentine Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands are included. Of these territories, ALADI only recognizes under Argentine sovereignty the Malvinas Islands and the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands.
⁽²⁾ Chile's land surface reaches 2,006,360 km² if the claimed territory of Chilean Antarctica is included ⁽³⁾ The land area of Cuba reaches 110,977 km² if the claimed territory of the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base is included
^{(4) The land area of Venezuela reaches 1,075,987 km² if the claimed territory of Guayana Esequiba is included
(5) Does not include reclaimed area
(6) Does not include reclaimed area}

Accession of other Latin American countries

The TM80 is open to the adhesion of any Latin American country. On August 26, 1999, the first accession to the TM80 was perfected, with the incorporation of the Republic of Cuba as a member country of the Association. Likewise, on May 10, 2012, the Republic of Panama became the thirteenth member country of ALADI.

On the other hand, the accession of the Republic of Nicaragua was also accepted at the sixteenth meeting of the Council of Ministers (Resolution 75 (XVI)), held on August 11, 2011. Currently, Nicaragua is advancing in compliance with the conditions established to become a member country of the association. In May 2018, the Dominican Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas, during an official visit to Uruguay, visited the ALADI headquarters to show the interest of the Dominican Republic in belonging to this organization. Since that visit, both the country and the association have They are doing the procedures in place for the integration of the Dominican Republic as a member country.^{[citation required]}

ALADI also opens its field of action to the rest of Latin America through multilateral links or partial agreements with other countries and integration areas of the continent (Article 25). Likewise, it contemplates horizontal cooperation with other integration movements in the world and partial actions with developing third countries or their respective areas of integration (Article 27).

Institutional Structure

Institutional Structure of ALADI

According to the founding Treaty, the structure is made up of the following bodies:

• Council of Ministers for Foreign Affairs: The Council of Ministers is the supreme organ of ALADI and adopts the decisions that correspond to the higher political leadership of the integration process. It consists of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the member countries. However, where in any of these the competence of integration matters was assigned to a different Minister or Secretary of State, member countries may be represented, with full powers, by the respective Minister or Secretary. It meets by call of the Committee of Representatives and sessions and makes decisions with the presence of all member countries.
• Assessment and Convergence ConferenceThe Conference on Evaluation and Convergence is responsible, inter alia, for reviewing the functioning of the integration process in all its aspects, promoting the convergence of the partial-range agreements by seeking their progressive multilateralization and promoting more far-reaching actions on economic integration. It is composed of Plenipotentiaries from member countries.
• Committee of Representatives: It is the permanent political body and negotiating forum of the Association, where all initiatives aimed at meeting the objectives set by the Treaty are analyzed and agreed. It is composed of a Permanent Representative of each member country entitled to one vote and a Alternate Representative. It regularly sits every 15 days and its resolutions are adopted by the affirmative vote of two thirds of the member countries.
• General Secretariat: It is the technical organ of ALADI. It has powers of proposition, evaluation, study and management aimed at the better attainment of the objectives of the Association. It is composed of technical and administrative staff and is headed by a general secretary, who has the support of two secretaries, elected for a period of three years, renewable equally.

ALADI Headquarters, Montevideo

Secretaries General

ALADI initiatives

• Observatorio América Latina-Asia Pacífico
• ExpoALADI