From 25 to 26 July 2013, the EU-LAC Foundation and ObservatorioPyME Foundation, in collaboration with Boletín Informativo Techint, organized the Seminar “Towards a map of Latin America’s and the Caribbean’s industrial geography: An operational instrument to promote the competitiveness of SMEs and regional business with the EU”. The event took place in Buenos Aires gathering experts from universities and research institutes from nine Latin America and Caribbean countries with the view to explore the feasibility of the project MIALC (Mapa Industrial de América Latina y Caribe), which would draw the region’s industrial map.
This technical meeting has counted with the participation of experts from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay as well as from the University of Bologna and the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF). The ObservatorioPyME Foundation from Buenos Aires has shared its work experience in the field contributing to the definition of operational instruments that would allow the identification of comparable data, which could be used as primary information by authorities, economic and other actors. As illustration ObservatorioPyME has presented a comparative analysis, which had been developed in previous years, of SMEs in Venezuela, Chile and Mexico proposing this methodological approach for the whole region.
On the second day the experts have participated in a workshop to discuss a comprehensive methodology to be applied to the whole region. This technical meeting has concluded that MIALC would be a useful tool and confirmed its feasibility. The first stage of the project will trace the industrial map of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay. Its aim is to gradually include all countries until the whole region is integrated.
(Photographer: Gustavo Daniel Borzone, Buenos Aires)