As nations around the globe continue to struggle with the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression, many countries throughout the Americas have found a path to renewed economic growth. While many industrialized economies still struggle to rebuild their economies, several countries in the Western Hemisphere have begun to climb out of the recent slump with increased optimism and a growing appetite to economically engage others throughout the world.

Brazil saw its economy surge forward by more than nine percent compared to the first quarter of last year. Peru’s economic indicators, compared to April one year ago, have also grown more than nine percent. Even Mexico, which saw a significant economic decline at the depth of the recession, anticipates that its economy might grow at least five percent in 2010. Much of this positive news comes from policies that have kept spending down and encouraged investment. However, perhaps one of the most important factors has been that these countries have also strongly embraced international trade.

Historically, a basic feature of the region’s stagnation has been its insufficient insertion into the world economy. Leaders would often speak a lot about trade, but would ultimately limit Latin America’s and the Caribbean’s participation in the world economy. Fortunately, we have made great strides from the protectionist decades of the 1960s and the 1970s. More recently, international trade has contributed significantly to development in the Americas.

In fact, trade has been a binding factor among countries in the Inter-American system. Since 1994, 65 free trade agreements have been signed by countries in the region, and of those 44 were signed in the last eight years alone. To further expand their trade opportunities, the member states of the Organization of American States (OAS) have also reached out to countries beyond the Western Hemisphere signing 28 agreements with non-hemispheric partners, including ones with the European Union, China, India, Japan, and South Korea. Consequently, between 2003 and 2008, total exports by OAS member states practically doubled to reach $2.64 trillion and their share of total trade as part of GDP steadily grew during that period.

Still, the nations of the hemisphere can and must do more to deepen hemispheric trade integration, thereby enhancing their competitive position vis-…-vis other regions of the world in this hyper-competitive global economy.

As the single largest economy in the world, the United States plays a key role in the economies of its hemispheric neighbors. That makes it all the more important that two trade agreements with Panama and Colombia move forward, creating further impetus for Latin American and Caribbean nations to look to other regions for economic partnerships.

The United States needs to maintain and secure trading partners to help it more robustly recover from the recent recession, and prevent it from dipping into a second one. Indeed President Barack Obama has called for the increase in exports to help the United States grow its economy and create jobs. The trade agreements between the United States and Panama and the United States and Colombia would benefit all three countries, but would also benefit the Americas as a whole. It would prove, once again, that the United States is willing and able to engage the hemisphere on trade while at the same time providing opportunities for growth to two countries that have been strongly committed to an integrated hemisphere.

Jose Miguel Insulza is secretary-general of the Organization of American States.

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