CLASE 1 - La integración como fenómeno multidimensional

We are now surprised by the large number of summons that this course had, which shows the interest that exists for economic integration, which is no less a fact to start talking about the interest that regional integration results in, and more after the pandemic, which is what we are going to talk about a little in the last classes of this integrationist phenomenon and what happens post-pandemic.

For my part, I would like to thank you again. We started with the workshop. The idea is to work a little, an hour, an hour, a little more, with an exhibition on our part. And in the second part of the class, work with a practical part, with questions so that everyone can answer. And on that we will continue working in a slightly more interactive way so that this class is not only an exhibition and that everyone can participate.

Any questions or questions that may arise can be asked in the chat. We will answer the questions and we are available not only in these two hours that we have today from this workshop and the classes that come, but later through our communication channels. You can contact us for what you need without problem, if you want a biography, if you want material on a topic, if you are working on a thesis topic in particular or if you are a postgraduate who needs help from us, we can also do it.

So, having said that, thank you also to Andrea, the Intel team who is assisting this. Thank you Andrea for your time too. And well, without further ado, Viv, you have the floor, while I share the PowerPoint. So we start with the presentation.

Well, good afternoon, I reiterate the thanks of Lautaro and it is a pleasure for us to share this space with you, who are surely connected from different geographies throughout the Latin American continent. And well, we start with this first class. First, let's see a little bit, Lautaro, you're going to tell us a little bit about the objectives of the course. Here we point and then we're going to talk a little bit about what

the reasons why we do a course on integration agreements. Well, there, keep in mind that we are the four classes. If you have the program, you can follow us as we present, you can then ask for the PowerPoint of the presentation without problem. We will share a folder of some specific topics that may be of interest. The idea of ​​the course is to be able to reach the different latitudes of Latin America and the Caribbean, so we are going to review different integration processes that link the Caribbean, Central America, South America,

regional trade agreements, we will also see the link between these agreements with the World Trade Organization, how we started, and on the other hand, it is important that you also have in mind, remember, what Esteban just mentioned very well about the credential that you will be given after having attended three classes in this workshop,

Those credentials will appear and you will be able to publish them on LinkedIn, which is a certification. Anyone who enters will be able to verify that you actually did that course, which is something additional or a value that adds to the certification that you are going to have for having done this course. So, well, without further ado, we start to transit.

So when we were talking a little with Ana Vaz about the content of the course and what we were going to work on, and the regional integration has many dimensions that we are going to see today,

But well, a little to be able to shorten the time we have, which are four classes, the idea is that you can get into a little more depth in the processes of regional integration of Latin America and the Caribbean, mainly, that you can also know the basic concepts to understand integration as a multidisciplinary and multidimensional process, of regional and global character, of course, that you can develop or that we can talk and achieve positive attitudes towards integration. Surely you have seen

in some communication means, in some integration processes or commercial agreements, that civil society in many cases is reluctant to the creation of these agreements. And in reality, that occurs due to different variables, but practically one, or the most complex variable, is the lack of information at the time of negotiations of a regional trade agreement or an agreement that generates a regional integration process. Perhaps that lack of transparency in many cases

makes people who don't know or don't know well what it's about, we tend to oppose something we don't know. So a little bit of this course is

to give and promote what mechanisms civil society has to be able to internalize these processes. We will see later that in some countries consultations were made, in other countries consultations are made to the Chamber of Commerce, in others civil society participates. We are also going to follow it precisely to look for positive points of the integration processes that at the end of the day, these processes, as we will see throughout the course, what they do is promote the economic development of our countries.

Also within this context, we are going to analyze the role of the State in the integration processes, whether more or less state intervention, whether more trade liberalization or more trade intervention, whether more or less customs restrictions, all these issues we are also going to review throughout the course. All this we are going to work on, as we just mentioned, with practical cases,

In the first classes, and probably in the last class, where the work was planned with a deeper practice activity, we will work on a question of a system of decision of differences, also to be able to think about what other tools these integration processes offer us, beyond commercial tools, commercial liberalization, of what other ways we can take advantage of these processes or these integration blocks.

We are also going to learn how integration law develops and evolves, but for that we have to understand how these agreements work, what degrees of integration they generate, are the ones that give rise to the creation of integration law. Surely those who participate, those who visit us or those who take this course with countries that are members of the Andean community are used to hearing about the rights of the Andean community,

the court sentences of the Andean community, or those who participate from the Caribbean and Central America, perhaps those linked to the SICA system, they also know the derived law, the original law of these processes, and others who may visit us from other bloques or other countries that do not have this kind of deep interaction.

and that have trade agreements linked, for example, to free trade zones, these agreements do not necessarily generate institutions. We will also see this in the context of today's class, this of institutions within the integration processes, to also know how they work in practice and how integration processes are instrumented in their various degrees. This will also help us to compare

How is Latin America today in the integration processes, such as Mercosur, Canary, the American Central Market, or SICA, among others, and to be able to compare our situation with other blocs, such as the European Union, and we will see later that there are other blocs also in Africa and Asia that are not so well known, but that we could also compare ourselves, and even many times,

we are linked by commercial agreements, such as the one of Mercosur with the South African Doner Union, such as the one of Mercosur with certain countries in Asia. So, these integration processes are already being touched upon and we can compare them, we can work on them.

in different regions. We also need to familiarize ourselves with regional trade agreements. We are also going to learn today the necessary rules for the formation of an economic market, which is the main object of integration processes, beyond other variables and disciplines.

and link these processes or these regional trade agreements with the multilateral trade system. So, the agenda of today's class is very ambitious to review these issues, those that we do not reach, we do not know where we can continue in the next class.

o si hay algún tema puntual o particular que ustedes deseen que hagamos hincapié o algún punto que quieren que veamos, podemos también hacer foco en ese punto. Recuerden que tenemos cuatro clases, la de hoy vamos a ver a la integración como un fenómeno.

The third Tuesday of May we will see the legal aspects

for the formation of the market and here we are going to work, obviously, with the trade disciplines. And the last class, which is the six, we are going to have a final practice linked to the topics that we are going to see in the different classes. Now, it is not necessary that you study from class to class because we are going to see the topics in each of the classes and if you want to go deeper, we can refer you to some material that you want to read. But with the assistance of the classes, these activities

Obviamente que son para poder consolidar los conocimientos y esa es la finalidad propia. No es una evaluación final de curso, ni mucho menos, sino que es una actividad práctica para poder poner en funcionamiento lo que vamos a seguir viendo a lo largo de estas cuatro clases. Seguimos el área de 5 a 7 de la Argentina y esto que decíamos al principio, que el Intel y el BitBan entregar un certificado con la credencial digital a los que participen al menos de tres encuentros.

We started today a little in summary what we are going to see today is this of the interaction as a multidimensional phenomenon, perhaps over time it could have been seen as a phenomenon from an economic perspective, perhaps commercial, perhaps political, perhaps social, today we understand that the phenomenon

The first integration is multidimensional. Today we will hardly be able to differentiate or separate one topic from another. They are always very linked. Although the integration processes are looking for the approach of the economies, this differentiation of a single variable is very complex.

What we are going to work on today, in short, is this conceptual approach to the conditioning elements of integration processes, mainly linked to two principles: the one of graduality and the one of progressivity.

This gradualness means that over time this process will be extended and this progressiveness refers to the breadth of that process, that we are incorporating different variables over that time that is going to be worked. This finds political, economic, social and legal justification within the framework of trade agreements.

So, for this super quick presentation. Just now Lautaro was telling us a little about the objectives of the course, right? The objectives of what we are going to see throughout the course. But before we start with the content of the first class, it is worth asking ourselves: "What is the purpose of doing a regional integration course? Why do we do a regional integration course?"

Well, first of all, to learn and share with everyone, as Lautaro said, the functioning of the integration processes that we are going to see throughout this course, that there are a lot of integration processes, but that have, in turn, all variables that are very different, that have particularities.

Secondly, to promote the importance and benefits of the integration process. What Lautaro was saying, the issue of bad publicity that integration agreements sometimes have. And to know the benefits for economic and social development, both of the countries and of the people who live in that integrated space, and particularly in our space of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Also, an integration course helps us to think about the importance of these agreements in the 21st century and see the experiences that have left us and that we have in the current blocks in our region. An integration course, and this is what this course is intended to be, is also a trigger to rethink

the integration that we need in this such a convulsed international context, in this international context, in this international system with such an uncertain future at a political, economic, social, labor level, and especially after the pandemic, to rethink whether the way in which Latin America is integrating is the correct one or whether we have to think

and to give back and think of other methods or other forms of integration. And also through this course, we intend to compare these structures, particularly the structures in force in our continent, with the European Union, because precisely the process of the European Union is the process of deeper integration.

and see how they coexist with the multilateral trade system, if they are confronted or if both can really live at the same time, the multilateral system and the integration systems. Well, having said that, we already started with the content of the first class and I leave you with Lautaro, that we are going to start by seeing what we understand or what integration is. To start thinking

in regional integration. Before we go into the concepts or definitions of integration per se, we have to think about what integration is for. We always think of integration not as a purpose in itself, but as a means. That is, countries or states

have different ways of moving forward their objectives. One of those objectives, which is growth, expansion and other issues that make economic, social, cultural, employment, etc. One of the tools that the State has, that can be given to the State, is through the celebration of agreements, of course, and within those agreements, of regional economic integration agreements.

So, it is a tool, let's think about what the State has, and that tool gives it different purposes or different ends. Notice that regional integration, as I said, is not an end in itself, it is a means, so that it is a means to promote, first of all, economic activity. When I link two economies, I automatically begin to feel the effects of that joint work with the other,

with another economy or another market. Secondly, this promotes employment, because in order to unify these economies or to try to play more freely, more employment is generated because I need to be more competitive and I need to produce more or produce better. Then we will see this in the link between employment and regional integration in some of the previous classes, when we see technical regulations or those issues that make the way of producing and how employment is linked to that.

Productivity is also in hand. This is what I was saying earlier, productivity. If we associate ourselves with another country that is more efficient, that uses fewer resources, now that we are also working on the environmental transversalization in trade issues, there is a country that produces a certain amount of goods without consuming natural resources, and I consume them, obviously I will not be competitive. So that competitiveness is summarized or transferred to productivity and even better use of the factors of production

We also have financial stability, in the sense that we have to work with another country within this block or integration process, and we have financial stability to be able to play equally with this other partner. And also, all this, in principle, would round up the improvement of living conditions in participating countries, because it promotes, basically, look at development.

to greater economic activity, greater employment, greater productivity, better financial stability and better living conditions, this is what promotes basically development. Development understood as

improve the living conditions of people within the associated countries. So, look, now I'm going to change the image, but notice that regional integration promotes all these issues. It is not that I only see the largest trade exchange or the largest commercial volume because I export more or I am importing more from the other territory, but that greater export or that greater import that I am making from that associated territory or this process or that integration block

generates me borders inside, a greater economic activity, it generates employment, it generates productivity, as long as the state knows how to distribute resources so that this precisely has this purpose or this integration process is seen that promotes these different variables in favor of the development of our countries.

That's why this is important. Now, if we are going to talk about modern integration processes, note that these ideas of integration processes are not current, they are not from now, from 10 years ago, 20, 30, 40.

Going back to the past, we were looking for, for example, the Rosas customs law here in Buenos Aires from 1851. That customs law already promoted an arancelary elimination of the main products that Argentina, Buenos Aires, imported from the limit countries.

Look at the decades of the 20s and 30s, with the agreements of regional and South American bilateral integration, especially the 1929 agreement between Argentina and Brazil, which proposes to create a customs union. If we go back to that time, to 1930, remember that it was the decade of the crisis of the US stock market.

a very convulsed Europe, the lifting of the arancelary measures by the countries to protect themselves from this phenomenon, and we in the region were already beginning to think, at that time two agreements of declaration were formed, which was the agreement between Argentina and Chile in 1935,

created a kind of free trade zone in the form of a customs union and Argentina and Brazil, by that time, also, first made an agreement to create a customs union, which later will be the most remote antecedents of what Mercosur is. But precisely those agreements, to the point I'm going, is that those instruments were thought, precisely,

to access a new market, to generate this promotion of employment, to have greater productivity, greater financial stability, due to the instability that the global plan had at that time. I won't dwell on this, but let's also start thinking about these processes as solutions to problems that we find when we have external problems, being able to solve them in this way through internal integration processes. So,

If we move forward and look at regional integration as this multidimensional phenomenon that we talked about a little bit at the beginning, this multidimensional phenomenon goes in different directions. Look, on the one hand, it requires, from the participating countries, coordination of policies, regardless of the degree to which it is, because if it is a free trade zone, it will require certain coordination in the line of the area. Also cooperation, improvement, because both are like a game of

that everyone earns, cooperation is needed so that both parties are doing well, because if one of the parties does not do well in the integration process, it will not be beneficial for the other either. Convergence, here we are going to see, according to the degree of integration, what points of convergence exist. It can be a purely economic or commercial convergence, but it can also be a convergence in social matters, political convergence, institutional convergence, we are going to see it.

the different degrees that Vir is going to talk about when we get to that presentation. And also a degree, integration is going to go through different degrees, being able to choose from the most basic to the highest, let's say, too, until you reach the maximum degree, which is deep integration, which is the model that Vir just mentioned.

Virginia is the model that we all refer to as the European model, which is the one that has reached greater depth with a deep integration, a deep integration process. Within this coordination, operation and convergence, and within this integration,

is that it can be given in these different variables that are in the third column. Keep in mind that economy and commerce are squared because all the integration processes to be such require these two elements.

I would not be facing an economic integration process if we are not linking economies and we are not promoting trade or the facilitation of that trade, the opening of trade or the expansion of that trade in the expanded market of the countries that make up the integration process. We can also add other variables to this, such as the institutional variable,

The political variable, the social variable, cultural, legal and environmental. We will see later how trade agreements are structured, because over time their contents varied, and how the latter begin to accept issues that may not be accepted at this point, how they can be electronic commerce, gender issues, as transversal issues,

to the issues that make up the regional integration within the multidimensional phenomenon that I am talking about. So, as I was telling you at the beginning, this regional integration, which is not a product, is not an end, it is a process because it goes through stages. Imagine today, or depending on the country where each of you is, if your country signs a trade agreement with another country, it doesn't matter.

What would happen if you automatically liberalize trade 100% in the market? You will say, well, if that happens, the manufacturers of my country could not compete or be scrapped. So, just to avoid these issues, it is that the integration processes are processes. We are going in stages. We are going to

advancing to achieve or reach this process of regional integration. Secondly, see it as a means, not as an end, as Virginia just mentioned, to improve the quality of life of people,

It is a peaceful process, it is voluntary, it is transformative, that is, we agree to reach the progress of an integration process. It is not known how far an integration process can go. We start to think about some processes or agreements that started as very basic,

and that they were advancing in time and they were relaunching and they were improving, they were promoting. For example, a case was that of the LARC in the year 1860, which was created by the American Association of Free Trade with very ambitious objectives and that for 20 years the objectives could not be achieved. Well, the makers of that instrument realized that it was not the way, they reformulated it with another Montevideo treaty from 1980,

They re-found that LAC in ALADI, in the Integrated Association, and this ALADI has been able to advance in those objectives. But when that 1860 treaty was created, no one thought that it was not going to work, that it was going to reformulate, that there were going to be other variables to take into account. So, for this reason, it is important to keep in mind that the integration processes, we know how they start, but not how they end.

Many agreements that are born as fixed preference agreements, for example, where a country grants another preference for a certain amount of products, over time, if it works, surely those countries will advance towards a trade agreement, incorporating a greater amount of products, incorporating a greater liberalization, precisely because we cannot know how far a process of integration will go.

And another point is that there is no single concept, like all concepts in social sciences, we know that according to the author or according to the perspectives, the definition will have that bias. That is why we like the definition that the CEPAL makes, as I was saying, that they mention it, they summarize it in this paragraph as a multidimensional phenomenon, which is not only attributed to the economy, although the commercial dimension proceeds from any type of integration, as I was saying,

and this multidimensional process that includes coordination, cooperation, convergence, and deep integration initiatives. And this goes beyond commercial and economic issues, including also political, social, cultural, legal, and environmental issues. So, look at the dimensions

that today's class is going to do about dimensions. So, look at the dimensions that the regional iteration process has. Only if you go to the supermarket, the country where you are, you will find products from your neighboring countries, from other countries that your country is in agreement with, from countries that your country does not have an agreement with,

All these issues have to do with these integration processes. It may be that it enters without paying interest through its territory, it may be that it enters without paying interest through an associated state, there can be an infinity of cases and assumptions for this type of issues. But it is important to keep in mind that regional integration moves over different dimensions. So, as we just saw, now in today's class we are going to focus on commercial economic dimensions.

in the political dimensions, in the institutional legal dimensions, in the social, cultural and environmental dimensions. So, the first dimension I am going to refer to is the economic and commercial dimension, which is, as I mentioned at the beginning, the most important one. Why?

Because countries decide to work and celebrate an integration agreement precisely to expand their market, that is, to ensure that the market of their associated share becomes part of their market. And this is done through the elimination of customs rights. So what is promoted in a hyper-basic first stage is the free circulation of goods between those two territories.

This with the purpose of obviously having a greater number of consumers of those goods, that there is also this possibility of improving these production processes, that they are more competitive, creating new jobs due to greater demand for goods by the other country or consumers from another country, they already have to generate more to be able to export more. And all this economic dimension is the necessary condition, as I just mentioned, even of the European Union.

All integration processes begin with the perspective, with the vision of facilitating trade or economic union of the participating countries. So it is a model, as I said at the beginning, a tool more than the one that the states have, through which they seek to benefit through the elimination of trade barriers. Remember, we have both annuities barriers, which are the ones that the customs charge when the money enters,

importations, such as non-branch measures or for branch measures that are also sought to eliminate, for example, health measures, phytosanitary measures, those linked to technical arrangements and all the documentation that a loan office can do, for example, is what is tried to simplify or eliminate or make as simple as possible between those countries, precisely so that the trade flow works and is not

in the fabric or locked precisely by non-grant measures. And this is important because these non-grant measures and this grant reduction are only made to the countries that are part of the integration agreements. So, if I have to buy in Argentina a grocery store in Brazil or a grocery store that comes from Japan as an importer, what I'm going to think about is Brazil, precisely because I don't have a grant to pay and I have the non-grant measures

as simplified as possible. Now, if I go to trade with Japan, I will have to pay the bribes provided by the World Trade Organization, and the elimination of those procedures or those issues will be the same for all countries that do not have a Japan agreement. So, this benefit of participating in an integration agreement is that it makes it known as a preferential trade agreement, which is another concept that we have to keep in mind today.

Preferential trade is the one that is governed through an integration trade agreement. It is preferential precisely because it eliminates these barriers

and because it removes these non-homeless measures. Hence the preference among states that participate in an integration process. So, by increasing integration, these trade barriers will decrease, and this elimination of barriers can be classified or classified into integration degrees, which is a medullary point of integration processes.

When I look for an integration agreement, whatever it is, Article 1 or 2, as much, of any trade agreement that generates an integration process, it will automatically tell me what is the degree that the parties seek with that instrument. There are countries that only seek a minimum degree of integration and free market circulation. Now, there are countries that seek, in addition to that, to create a customs union and that there is no competition between them in terms of external bonds.

Other countries, in addition to these issues, want that there be, among their territories, that workers can move from one country to another and work in the same conditions. So there we are facing a common market. So each of these different degrees and different implications was studied by theory many years ago. The main expository was Elaba Laza, who is one of the main expositors of the issues of regional integration, and he was the one who organized

these degrees of integration according to the depth or not of what a trade agreement provides. So, in this case, integration would consist of progressively eliminating economic borders between countries.

There you see the concept of Bela Balaza, the work is "The theory of integration" from 1964, which tells us that economic integration is the abolition of discrimination between economic units belonging to different national states. All this to tell you about the economic dimension. So if we go a little deeper into these degrees that Bela Balaza managed to organize, we included one more,

Bella Balazs talked about a free trade zone upwards, look, it's a ladder. We also incorporate the area of ​​price preferences as a previous grade, in many cases, which will later give rise to a free trade zone. So, each of these grades includes the previous one. Look, in the price preference zone, like grade 0, imagine, starting point 0, in these, a country grants another country a series of price preferences, that is to say,

that gives it better aranceles than other countries. In the area of arancel preferences, a country gives it other preferences precisely because it needs to be supplied, because it requires those inputs, for whatever reason, and the other country can access the market of that other country in a preferential way through these arancel preferences. A second degree of interest for us, or a first to see the balance, is the free trade area, which is the first degree, if you want,

that requires the commitment of the two parties, the two countries, to free the reciprocal trade, creating a free trade zone between the parties. It means that there will be no more aranceles between them and that those goods will circulate freely between their territories. In this sense, an example could be the old Free Trade Agreement of North America, the TLCAN, or NAFTA in English, currently the Renewed Agreement.

between Canada, the United States and Mexico. This form of trade agreement is very common when the United States is part of it. The United States signs free trade agreements. It is what it proposes, liberalization of banners, free circulation of goods, and not much more. These agreements have a low institutional quality, that is, they do not have institutions, they do not provide institutions

Institutions do have an evaluative commission that evaluates the implementation of the agreement and nothing else. A second degree, a little deeper than I mentioned earlier, is the customs union, where in addition to the elimination of the banners between the contracting countries, a requirement is added to an element that is the creation of a common external banner between the states. This so that

Any of the states can import and that import pays the same taxes entering into any of the territories of those countries, precisely so that there is no competition between if it is cheaper to buy from one state or buy from another, there is no competition between them in this sense.

A third degree, which is the common market, which in addition to having this free circulation of commodities and this common external branch, incorporates the free circulation of the factors of production. You know that the factors of production are five: capital, work, free circulation of natural resources, free availability or movement of companies and also, one more picture,

It has services and capital. Capital, sorry. And investments would be the free circulation of capital and investments within the five elements that form the production factor within the common market. The economic union, do you want to continue, Vir? Economic union.

Yes, the economic union is a higher degree and we are going to see it in the next class. It is a, it assumes that economies go, go one step further and in many cases the existence of a common currency, yes?

And then we have the total economic system united, where we would actually find ourselves in front of what would be a supranational state. It could no longer be called integration, but rather a confederate system. Later we will see in the next class, when we see the European Union, that the European Union has a market consolidated since 1993, but with respect to the economic and financial union, it is still imperfect.

We continue with the following dimensions, we move on to the next slide. Yes, well, repeating a little and I don't know how we are with the time to move on to the other dimensions. This question that Lautaro already said, to eliminate the obstacles for and for, to increase and facilitate trade and obviously implement common policies in different sectors of the economy. Obviously this will vary according to

the goal of the integration process. And as Lautaro said, it will be the framework agreement or the first generation agreement that establishes the coordination of these policies. Next came to account, this that I was just telling you, the preferential trade agreements, precisely this preferential

is contrary to global trade, which is non-preferential. Those countries that do not have trade agreements, that do not create free trade zones or do not have integration agreements, will regulate their international trade with the standards of the World Trade Organization.

I mean, I tell you, Argentina, or let's say Chile and Brazil, their bilateral trade will be regulated by the bilateral agreement that Chile has with Brazil. Now, I tell you, Chile and a country that does not have a trade agreement will be regulated by the World Trade Organization agreement and the different agreements that make the World Trade Organization, for example, we are going to go into a little more depth,

which are the agreements that regulate, in principle, four principles of international trade, which are the most favored nation clause, that is to say, that any country that in the field of the OMC gives a preference to another country has to open it to the rest, multilateralize that preference, and within this system of multilateralizing these preferences, there is an exception to the trade agreement that is given by

precisely because of the free trade zones and the free trade unions that are excluded from that principle of the most favored nation. And this is provided in Article 24 of the GATT for the free trade zones and free trade unions that foresee trade and merchandise issues when they deal with issues linked to services. This exception is found within Article 5 of the General Trade and Services Agreement, it would be AGSS,

And the trade agreements held between developing countries, in developing terms of the OMS, which are all those that when they enter the trade agreement, they decided to do it as if recognizing the developing country,

can be these instruments, free trade agreements, that is, trade unions between developing countries, and notify them through the debilitating clause, which is also an exception to this principle of the most favorable action. So with this we have, in order to organize myself with the idea, two large blocks

that regulates international trade. On the one hand, we have those trade relations between countries that do not have trade agreements, that this link will be given by the standards of the OMC, and those that do have trade agreements, that will be given by these instruments, which are the agreements that create the integration processes known as regional trade agreements.

So if you ask me, "But how come the integration agreements are the same? Do they vary in something?" Yes, they vary for different reasons.

First of all, they vary by the degree, this one we saw today. We can have free trade agreements, agreements that create bond unions, we can have agreements that create economic union zones, we can have agreements that create common markets, like the case of the Central American Common Market, which seeks to reach that degree of integration, like the Common Market of the South, the South Market also seeks that goal. The ALADI, which also seeks to create a Common Market.

etc. For the degree, I can see the commercial agreements, I see the article 1 and 2 and I know what kind of agreement I am talking about.

For the quality of the parts, here I can know if they are celebrated by developing countries or by developed countries. And I'm going to see that in terms of the list of discrepancies, what goods are the ones that each of the parts offers to that commercial agreement, what is reserved for each one. We also have, within that quality of the parts, agreements between developing countries, between developed countries, between developing and developed countries.

And that will also vary the type of integration and trade agreement that is being treated. Precisely this is the progressiveness. In time it will be given by one of the parts, which is a little weaker, surely it has longer periods of national degradation, precisely so that its market does not see itself flooded by this commercial opening. For the number of parts, notice that we have agreements like Mercosur, where four states participate, others that are bilateral. Now, post-pandemic, we will see it a little later,

There is a return to bilateral agreements, not to the plurilateral agreements of trade, which was what the last period of this time was. Those agreements where many states participate and many debate and are in different disciplines, now it is seen as a reduction, at least in terms of the parties and the disciplines. With the geographical location, we also have regional trade agreements, Latin American, Caribbean, Central American. In this we also find bi-regional trade agreements.

regional agreements, for example, the agreements that the European Union celebrates with the Central American market. So, there are two regions already working on an agreement and for the covered disciplines. And here we have sectoral agreements, such as the Argentine-Mexican agreement on the automotive sector, such as the agreement of Brazil with some countries linked to the export and import only of wheat, oats, etc. and cereals products.

or it can be because of the disciplines that are all the disciplines that prevent traditional trade agreements, such as a free trade agreement. So we can classify it by these different questions. I imagine that now you are thinking about the agreements that your country has signed, trying to locate it, well, by the grade, by the quality of the...

by the number of parts, by the geographical location, if it is regional, if it is multi-regional, if it is bi-regional, if it is local, and by the disciplines, right? For example, we have an agreement

of fixed preferences with India in the South Merco, where it has very few covered disciplines, in reality it is merchandise trade for few positions. Now there are other free trade agreements with India that have other countries that are much more covered. This also varies according to the agreement. With that we see

We have finished solving this economic and commercial dimension of integration agreements. We then move on to the political dimension.

We continue then with the political dimension, although Lautaro said that the economic dimension is the axis, the engine of integration, together with the economic dimension we will find the political dimension. It is worth clarifying that the political dimension appears at different times in the integration process, and in turn, according to the integration process in question, it will have different nuances.

In the first moment when the political dimension appears, it is precisely when states decide to participate in an integration process. States that are free, that are sovereign, that govern the principle of legal equality of states, decide to enter or negotiate a process of integration.

of integration and sign an integration agreement, or even decide to later adhere to an integration agreement and, as a consequence, they will coordinate certain areas that historically were under their control and that now, from the entry into that integration treaty,

van a tener que coordinar con otros estados. Incluso vamos a ver que hay acuerdos de integración fundacionales que van a suponer, de acuerdo al grado de integración, la cesión de soberanía a favor del bloque que se crea.

Obviously, this political dimension requires common interests, because if there are no common interests, as Lautaro said, the starting point is economic interests, there will be no reason for me to have to coordinate with another state certain areas that were previously exclusively under my control.

And many times these common interests, this coordination of policies, are due to geopolitical issues or motivations, such as when a more powerful country, such as the United States or China, offers a free trade treaty to other countries with the intention of entering or starting to be part of that region.

Geopolitical motivation can also have a sense of improving the relationship of neighborhood with the states of the region, such as the European integration process. When the Economic Community of Carbon and Steel was born in 1951,

What was sought was to generate an area where carbon and steel could be negotiated in a peaceful way in a region that until six years ago had been subjected to a world war. That is to say that integration treaties can also be used as a pacifying tool.

We can put the example of the Mercosur, although when the Assumption Treaty was born in 1991, the Mercosur was given a clearly commercialist vision. The precursors of the Mercosur, President Alfonsín for Argentina and Sarney for Brazil,

They had another view of integration, and there was a geopolitical view of saying, well, let's stop that confrontation that we had between Argentines and Brazilians, that cold but real confrontation during the time of military dictatorships. So the idea of ​​building an integration agreement was a way to integrate and improve the relationship of neighborhood in the region.

The political dimension always involves a political commitment, a commitment that has to be present when the integration agreement is signed, but that has to last throughout the entire integration process.

and in a great way, the luck and success of the integration process depends on respect for this commitment. In Latin America, it happens a lot in the Latin American and Caribbean region that countries get very excited, sign an integration treaty, we all take pictures, but when the integration process begins to work, the political commitment weakens because sometimes the governments change

of presidents, and then the sympathies make the political commitments assumed in the agreement not be respected so much. But as I said, the respect for the commitment assumed in the foundational agreement must remain in time.

And we also said that integration processes have different intensity in terms of the political dimension, the deeper processes also involve the creation of deliberative bodies where they are represented by the peoples, as in the case of the European Parliament, and they also involve

the need to respect democratic values, the rule of law, human rights, and also promote the identification with the regional bloc as the concept of bloc citizenship. It is very common the concept of European citizenship that we all know, and also here in the Marcosun we have the citizen's statute.

Well, we move a little now to the institutional legal dimension. Here you also have to keep in mind that law is a tool and not a purpose in itself, this to keep it clear from the beginning.

It often happens that in the integration processes it seems that the right is the end and not the middle. And why did I say this? Because through a framework or foundational agreement, the objectives of this integration process are established, and in turn the rules that are going to be implemented are established,

in the integrated space to achieve those objectives. That is, the framework agreement or the foundational agreement will establish the institutional structure and establish the legal norms that will govern the integration process.

The following is a maxim that is not always fulfilled, but the greater the degree of integration, the deeper the integration process is, the greater the institutionality. Lautaro just said, referring to the TLCs that the United States offers, where in general the institutionality is almost null, and there is only a small evaluative commission of the agreement, the greater the degree of

of deepening the integration system, a more developed institutional structure is usually established, the classic case of the European Union. And there is also a session of sovereignty towards the bloc. Under the principle of attribution of competencies, they are granted to the community bloc

the exercise of certain competencies that were previously exclusive to the parties states. However, I say that it is a maxim that is not always fulfilled, because putting the case of the Mercosur, we propose the creation of a common market of the South, but the foundational treaties have established an institutional structure, clearly intergovernmental.

In processes where the degree of integration is deepened, where they go beyond the free trade zone, it is usually distinguished between what is called the original right and the derived right. The original right is this framework agreement to which we made reference, which has its basis, its root in international public law, in which the states, in a sovereign and voluntary way, decide to participate in an agreement.

And on the other hand, there is talk of derived law, which is the one that arises from the institutions created precisely in the Marcos Agreement.

The more developed the integration process is, the greater autonomy the right to integration will acquire. And in turn, the rules of right of derivation will have direct applicability and will not need to be internalized in the parties states.

In turn, the most developed legal systems, the most developed community legal systems, have a jurisdictional body that is responsible for guarding the supremacy and legality of the community legal order. We now continue with the social dimension.

Well, here there are different visions about what is understood by what is the social dimension. A first vision speaks of two levels, and then we can talk about, first of all, social policies that tend to correct the imbalances that arise as a consequence of the implementation of the trade agreement.

And a second level within this vision involves or speaks of the participation in the integration process of the actors of civil society, and that they are the last recipients of the changes proposed by the integration process. Other visions, when they talk about the social dimension, understand that more than focusing on the compensatory mechanisms of the damage that the integration process

the process of integration in certain sectors, the social dimension must be understood or understood as that concerning social development, beyond any of the dimensions

We have to take into account that it is a dynamic concept that has a broad agenda and that the social dimension is also a very useful tool to put into practice the objectives of sustainable development, the 2030 agenda.

You have to keep in mind that, unlike the political dimension and the economic dimension, which have to be present from the beginning, the social dimension does not always appear from the beginning, from the moment the foundational agreement or the free trade treaty is signed, or the type of agreement that is signed. In many cases, the social dimension appears much later,

And it has not always been the dimension in which EGE has been made, because as Lautaro explained well, the starting point, the starting budget is the economic dimension. In the case of the European Union, although there was a

certain norms that took up the social dimension, just with the European Unique Act in the year 86, the concept of social cohesion is introduced and in the 1992 Treaty of Maastricht the concept of social and economic cohesion is already incorporated.

If we go a little bit to the processes that we have in Latin America, Mercosur, for example, did not make any mention, the Assumption Treaty,

to the social dimension, yes, the ACAN and the SICA have specific standards, SICA has a specific sub-regional system linked to the entire social dimension, also the CARICOM, and in the case of MERCOSUR, the social dimension arrived much later. We now continue with the environmental dimension,

The environmental dimension appears even much later, and although it is the one that we can say that it appeared at the end, it is the one that today can not be missing almost in any type of regional agreement, no matter how simple it is.

As we all know, environmental conservation is a common interest of the entire international community and economic activity that is necessary for development is one of the causes that generates the greatest environmental damage.

As a consequence, international trade cannot or should not be alien to the regulation of this problem. But the first rules in international trade, I am talking about multilateral level,

as is the GATT agreement of the year 47-48, did not receive this attention that can exist between free trade and the conservation of the environment.

and consequently the regional agreements that were signed around, under this "GAT umbrella", as Lautaro just explained, regional trade agreements are an exception to the multilateral trade system, and consequently these agreements that were signed, and the first of them, the European Economic Community Agreement, did not contemplate from the beginning any norm linked to the environmental dimension.

is from the UN Conference on Human Media, the Stockholm Conference of the year 72, where the environmental issue is put on the table, on the agenda of international politics.

and from there it acquires relevance both for the multilateral trade system and for regional trade agreements, which, as I said, today almost all of them incorporate a chapter, a discipline linked to the environmental issue. Even more so since the European Union, as we know, has launched the so-called

of the Green Environmental Pact, which means a free Europe of pollution, which, well, for Latin America and the Caribbean, invites us to rethink how our way of access to the European market is going to be, because, as we know, from the application of these environmental pact regulations, many of the goods

that come from sectors that have been deforested, will not be able to have access to the European market. Even through manufacturing standards, access to many products to the European market can be prevented.

Although conservation of the environment is extremely important and necessary for humanity to persist, it should be borne in mind that the environmental dimension cannot or should not be used as a form of commercial protectionism. This is an issue that is to be discussed. We will have a question about this later.

We now continue a little bit with budgets. With this we close the different dimensions that the phenomenon of integration has. We do not intend to finish them because there is much more to say, but at least have a vision that when we talk about integration, although we start from an economic concept, we should not limit ourselves to the economic. Well, what are the budgets for an integration agreement?

At this point, the literature of the subject is very varied. We with Lautaro identify two that we think are extremely interesting and that should not be missing. What budgets can not be missing for integration? Well, first of all, the convergence of common interests between two or more states, between a state and a block of integration, or between two blocks of integration.

But although we start from the existence of economic and commercial interests, let us remember that not only these interests are the ones that must be taken into account, but also the political, social and environmental ones. And the other budget that is indispensable for the celebration of a commercial agreement of the regional is the democratic commitment and respect for human rights, the so-called democratic clause.

It should be noted that when the first integration agreements were established, the democratic clause was not incorporated, it is something that was emerging over time. What is this about the democratic clause?

The democratic clause has two parts, a first part that is usually put at the beginning of the agreement, which refers to the relevance of respect for human rights and the democratic system for the development of the integration process.

and a second clause that is put at the end of the agreements, which is the suspension clause. What happens when the democratic compromise is broken? Agreements usually establish systems of rights suspension in the event of the breaking of the democratic compromise.

As I was saying, the democratic clause was not always present in the integration processes from the beginning. The European Union itself, although there were derivative regulations that referred to the consensus of Stockholm, that spoke of the criteria of Copenhagen, that referred to the need for respect for democracy to invest in

to the European Union system, only in the 1997 Amsterdam Treaty the democratic clause is explicitly incorporated. In the case of the Morco Sur, the same thing happens, the foundational treaty did not establish anything, there was previously some presidential declaration that did mention the democratic system, but it was only in 1998 where

the democratic clause was explicitly accepted in the protocol of Ushuaia. If we go a little further in time and look at more modern processes, such as the Pacific Alliance, we see that in Article 2 of the foundational treaty, the democratic clause is explicitly referred to. Well, we continue with the costs and benefits of integration. Lautaro.

We continue then with the costs of integration. This that Virginia just said, the different issues, the variables that make up the processes, beyond the economic, social, cultural, political, etc. The countries that decide to incorporate or insert themselves into an existing model or an existing integration scheme, obviously,

not only assume those profits or that market breadth, but also have to accept that by the fact of incorporating this type of processes, they can also receive or have to pay costs, such as economic losses, political losses, as Virginia just mentioned, or social losses that can also be serious. So, one of the main consequences that an integration process can generate is to create what is known as

The trade divide, that I was already trading with a certain country and that country, my trade partner, signed a trade agreement with another state, maybe he stops buying from me to buy from the other, or I can do the same, I buy from my new partner and stop buying from the previous one.

This generates trade discrepancy, which is obviously one of the negative factors of integration processes, especially when the parts are not entirely associated, but are fragmented. Secondly, we often compete on two very large variables, which are environmental variables and labor variables.

Regarding environmental variables, many countries do not have environmental protection standards, as you know, and other countries do have them. So, in countries that have environmental protection standards, obviously it is more expensive to manufacture there and produce there due to the compliance they have with those standards. The same happens with labor standards. Those countries that have labor standards

E.

8-hour working day, provision of child labor, slave labor, equal conditions for men and women, etc. Not all countries that are associated have that equality of norms. That is why you see in many trade agreements, countries commit when they do not have this equality to ratify agreements of the International Labor Organization, especially two, the child exploitation and the different regimes that make the labor

So that everyone has equal conditions at the time of work and that this cost is equal for everyone.

Obviously, that doesn't always happen in the world of facts. One thing is the world of the instrument and another thing is the way of instrumenting. But it should, in principle, seek a balance between those labor and environmental norms, between the partners, precisely because those who do not comply, do not have those norms, will generate what is known as social dumping or environmental dumping, in order to be cheaper and export their goods cheaper,

in detriment of their populations or their natural resources. A second negative factor of the integration processes is what we see today, which is the fragmentation of multilateralism. That is, if we all go to govern with the standards of the Multilateral Commission of Commerce,

to have transparency and know how international trade works, each of these trade agreements that are being celebrated, is removing that relationship or that form of regulation, it takes it out of the multilateral organism. So, the greater the number of trade agreements, bilateral trade agreements and integration, the less the amount of application of multilateral system rules. That is why some authors maintain

The doctrine is varied, but regionalism is attentive to multilateralism, while others insist that it is complementary.

Another point in this multilateralism front, is that these trade agreements incorporate new disciplines or issues, that the multilateral system, due to the number of partners or states that participate, has a fairly heavy structure and does not allow that flexibility that these trade agreements do have, that less states participate.

También en los procesos de integración, los estados que deciden participar pierden el control exclusivo sobre áreas que eran propias de su competencia, como pueden ser los derechos aboneros, como pueden ser políticas comerciales, y acá juegan la

the competition policies, for example, which is a very new issue for trade agreements, where states can agree to regulate competition issues, consumer defense, and other issues linked to commercial policies, as well as commercial defense, such as the application of anti-dumping and compensatory measures, or

other issues. Commercial opening also leads to losses and social costs for non-competitive productive sectors, and this makes the states constantly thinking about how they can hinder so that they cannot enter the market in this sector, and how to restrict certain sectors so that they are not affected.

by the commercial opening and also the agreements that, although they generate an increase in exports, which is what all countries want, that goes hand in hand with the increase in imports and this makes a new imbalance exist in those bilateral relations linked to trade.

So, if we have these negative questions to see about the integration processes, we ask ourselves why these integration processes are proliferating. And we return a little to the beginning of the class, where we talked about how these processes are seen, are used as tools for access to markets that stimulate the economy, promote the industry, and create new jobs, obviously in those areas where countries are more competitive.

The need to also give stable legal frameworks to value chains, and this was seen a lot in the pandemic, those countries that had trade agreements continued to work with their global chains, while those who did not have them and played with the rules of the WHO, those global chains were interrupted, they were fragmented, they were affected by the global trade parallelization.

The existence of non-cancel barriers to imports in all countries, or directly impede the entry of goods, or increase costs, so to eliminate all this, it is necessary to celebrate a trade agreement where the way in which these restrictions are eliminated is predicted. The disciplines of the OMC are delayed, as I mentioned, due to the speed with which global trade moves and what generates the need to regulate new disciplines.

For example, a very specific issue is electronic commerce, which is accepted in the new trade agreements or in the renewed trade agreements, such as the Argentina-Chile agreement, which was quite old, was renewed in 2017 and electronic commerce was incorporated.

Other agreements from Central America also incorporate issues linked, for example, to the defense of competition, which are all issues that the OMC has not been able to resolve due to the lack of participants, and that when it cannot be resolved, the states need to have this regulation.

And currently, these agreements also come to renew the geopolitical ties of the countries, so that these integration processes, although they are linked to trade as always, have a slightly more strategic background, thinking about national security, the supply of certain commodities so that the industry continues to function and these chains are not interrupted again.

Frente a una posibilidad de una futura nueva pandemia, la futura o la guerra actualmente entre Ucrania y Rusia, que también hace tambalear un poco estas cadenas globales de valor, están pensándose estos acuerdos comerciales en razón de estas cuestiones.

We move a little further. Look at how the evolution of the disciplines provided for in the commercial agreements has been. We have the traditional disciplines, which are the first generation agreements. Look at what the integration agreements provided for, issues linked to aranceles, mainly to physical goods, aranceles, quotas, water valuation, anti-dumping rights, safeguards, technical and health standards.

A second generation of commercial agreements will incorporate, in addition to the previous one, the trade of services and intellectual property. And these three disciplines, merchandise, services and intellectual property, are the three major agreements that the World Trade Organization regulates, with the three basic agreements, 1A, 2A and 3. The GATT, which is the agreement for commodities. The AGCS is the agreement for the trade of services. And the TRIP or TIC is the agreement on intellectual property. And then we have public purchases,

It is a second generation discipline, which in the OMC is a non-multilateral agreement, but it is plurilateral, because only a few countries participate.

And then we began to recognize the third generation disciplines not regulated by the World Trade Union, such as regulatory convergence, electronic trade, state companies, investment, competition policies, temporary entry of business people, cross-border data flows, copyrights on the Internet, taxes on exports, energy trade, labor standards, conservation of forests, fisheries and protected species,

trade and climate change. So these non-foreseen disciplines in the commercial world or partially foreseen, are still incorporated into commercial agreements of the third generation or also known as OMC Plus. Plus because it incorporates more disciplines than the OMC itself.

And those of the fourth generation incorporate, in addition to the above, issues linked to human rights, democracy, the rule of law, and one of the most novel issues that are incorporated into this type of agreement are the issues linked between gender and rights. If you want to see agreements of this generation, you can see, for example, that the third generation finds, the third and fourth generations, the agreements of the Pacific Alliance, which I just

Virginia mentioned, to foresee these disciplines. The RCP, which is the new agreement of Asia that entered into force in 2022, regulates all these issues. If you want to see a little older agreements, you will find that they do not incorporate these disciplines and are dedicated to the first and second generation disciplines. Look, and we are not finished yet, to give way to what follows.

How have the regional trade agreements evolved with respect to the entry into force of 1948, which was registered in the GATT until 2023? Look at the proliferation of 1990. This coincides with the return to democracy in most countries in the region, the Washington consensus, the non-liberalism policies that

what they were looking for was the market's amplitude, a setback, a state error, and in the face of that setback and the search for new markets, these regional trade agreements began to proliferate. Look at how they advanced from 1990, which is where the Free Trade Treaty of North Pan America was born,

and then there will be different initiatives in this time, without the prejudice that we had initiatives in Latin America, such as the Central American Common Market, such as the Andean Community of Nations,

The ALADIC that I just mentioned, which is the Free Trade Association promoted by the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, replaced in the 80s by the ALADI. And already from the 90s we will have the most modern new schemes linked to the second and third generations of trade agreements. Also note the current agreements: Participation by region, notice how Latin America participates, the Caribbean,

is the one with the least amount of commercial agreements currently. We also have Central America in the middle, which has a very interesting participation on commercial agreements. North America has a little more. South America is the one with the most in terms of commercial agreements. Remember that in South America we have both bilateral and plurilateral agreements, all celebrated in the Galadis framework together with the Caribbean.

which are these agreements that reflect this graph of the OMC that shows the number of current agreements according to the region. In the next classes we are going to focus on commercial agreements with a little more depth in some schemes, so that we can also see some examples and the rest. But the idea of ​​the class today is to start working all in, or at least be on the same page,

regarding the dimensions, degrees, and these issues that we have seen so far. So now we are going to propose with Virginia, so that we can review a little what we have seen so far. We have a game that we brought, actually it's about 10 questions, so that everyone can answer.

to see what we saw in today's class and as they respond, we will respond with the answers that are not all correct or incorrect, but many are subjective and true to your consideration. And we will work on that in the remaining time and then we will answer the questions that were asked in the chat. Andrea, if you think we are going with this dynamic. There it is, the vote is already there.

There are the questions subject to vote. I want to clarify that there are questions that do not have correct or incorrect answers. Some questions have to do with opinion and some are to be debated. The questions pretend to be a trigger to comment on some issues that perhaps we could not explore so much throughout the exhibition. Meanwhile, we are looking at some questions that Lautaro sent us so that later we can

Comentar si te parece. Tenemos ahí en el chat unas cuantas preguntitas.

Well, in the meantime, it is worth clarifying that some of the questions that have been formulated to us, we will see them in greater detail in the other classes. In fact, in the next class we are going to talk about the origin of the integration processes and we are going to refer to the current processes in the entire region of Latin America and the Caribbean, so we are going to leave some of them for

because we will have more time to talk about it. While you are answering the survey, we will answer the questions that were asked in the chat. There is a question that says: Latin America is experiencing different political ideologies. Do you think this will affect integration?

As Virginia said, there is a political dimension, and politics is linked to ideology. For example, the movement of some countries within some integration blocks that come out of some, enter others, new forums are created. Look at this, the CELAC, for example, or at the time the UNASUR ideology, there were other political processes that clearly linked presidents and countries with their ideologies in different blocks.

So clearly political ideologies affect regional integration. Regarding the second question from Edwin Alexander... Sorry, Lautaro.

I wanted to add something that although they affect, they should not affect so much, because it is what we said, if the integration block or the integration process is going to depend on the political affinity of the turn, then the integration has a limited period of 4 or 5 years or 6 years, as long as the sympathies of the governments of the region last.

It should be a superior process. The integration process should be superior to who wins the elections in a given country. It is not always to put a model to the European Union, but the example of the European Union is valid. It does not matter who wins in Spain or in Italy, if the right or left wins. The European integration process continues, advances, sometimes it will have its

but the concept or the integration block is superior for those issues that have to do with political circumstances of the turn. So, although they affect and in our region they affect a lot, the ideal would be that the integration process can overcome that issue.

Second, from Edwin Alexander: "Centroamérica is at that level with its Central American market. Of course, Central America, as they are progressive processes, what they are looking for is to reach that degree of integration, which is the common market. Third question, from Vilma Windel-Boxtel: "When the commitment is divided, the process of integration is lost or can be resumed at some point. The time of validity is established as it is constituted or it depends on the political context." I'm going to answer in a direct voice.

Well, the commitment is something that, as we said, it has to be always, right? Because if we make an agreement, right? Following the system of the Sun-Servanda Pact, contemplated in Article 27 of the Vienna Convention, treaties are made to be fulfilled. And if I sign an integration treaty and assume a commitment as a State, beyond the change of government, the commitments must be respected.

And well, yes, you can resume, you can return, there is always time to return because as we said at the beginning, integration is a process and like every process, it has advances and setbacks. Even in the process,

The example of the European Union, when in 2004 the European Constitution was discussed, it was a failure, the process of integration was a setback. The countries were not willing to create a constitution with the terms that were established at that time.

the text opposed to discussion and it can always be returned, obviously. But let's keep in mind that the political commitment is essential for the success of the integration processes. Well, we continue with one more from Iris Mora: Venezuela currently belongs to the Mercosur and also wishes to enter the Andean Community of Nations. Is this possible? So, as soon as we achieve integration, not being union to the top, it could be possible for you to participate in different zones of free trade. Is that an inconvenience?

because each country preserves its common external branch and free market circulation is for the associated countries. Now, if the degree of integration is deeper, it could not be because if there is an agreement to apply the common external branch of MERCOSUR when entering the Indian Nations community, which also has a common external branch, there you would have to choose one of the two blocks, precisely because of the depth or depth that these two blocks have, MERCOSUR and the Andean community. If it were in other agreements like

commercial and bilateral agreements, there would be no problem, there is no incompatibility between these types of agreements. The fifth question I have is from Jorge Gutierrez, who says: "What is the solution that economic integration has with respect to the environment, which is being hit hard by industrial development?" Jorge, there are different alternatives. Many free trade agreements begin to contemplate chapters linked to the form of production in environmental matters and to the standards of environmental standards.

Now there is no trade agreement that does not contemplate these variables in the form of production, and at least they have to contemplate environmental protection. They can obviously be from the simplest to the deepest or more complex, but everyone starts to rethink. And this is seen in the origin regimes, which we will see a little later, when specific origin regimes are established, precisely that the production process of a commodity has, in those processes the use of

the reduced use or the contemplative use of natural resources, especially water and other resources that are used in production systems. We wrote it down, Jorge, so I remember when we saw the class of trade disciplines, I think it's the third one, and there we are going to see the origin regime and there we see the environment as it is transversalized by the commercial issues of the regional agreements. Juan Pablo Contreras, what do you think about the SUCRE, the attempt to...

the only currency that some Latin American governments want to place in the region. And Margarita Peña, "What is the perspective of China's commercial integration with Russia, to trade with the yuan, in order to lower the dollar as an international exchange medium?" Juan Pablo, the issue of the national currency, as we saw at the beginning, requires a degree of deepening of the economies, precisely because the type of exchange is the same for the integrated countries. In my opinion, since you asked me for the opinion,

is quite complex to be able to do it. And regarding the second point, the perspectives regarding commercial integration of China and the Chinese as a means of exchange, there I tell you that we in Latin America have a similar system for what are purchases, imports and exports within Latin America in the LADY, which has its compensation fund system. In other words, this of compensating with a currency that is not the dollar, it is not new now, we have been applying that for years with Brazil,

within the ADI, which is the compensation fund system for the types of exchange for import and export. If you are interested in this topic, Margarita could send you material on this topic, which is super interesting, how many countries do not use the dollar as a compensation measure, as a form of payment currency. Well, let's go to the last question and we'll go with the answers from the survey. Martín, the last question is...

The Ecuador-China agreement does not contain disciplines such as intellectual property and public purchases. What do you think of this? In reality, the states are sovereign to negotiate the disciplines they consider. If disciplines such as intellectual property and public purchases are left out, it is necessary to see if they will not be governed by the agreements of the World Trade Organization. In that sense, the rules are already existent, both are part of those agreements, and for a matter of ease, many disciplines of commercial agreements refer to the

the rules of the UNHCR. Because the intellectual property is a very sensitive issue, because of, well, precisely what comes behind the intellectual property, right? Now we know about TikTok, NFTs, and everything else. We would have to see how time passes, how time passes in this matter. I understand that commercial agreements that do not have specific agreements or specific disciplines on certain matters, is because they submit or use the rules of the World Trade Organization in that sense. Well, let's go then...

with the answers, I hope I lost them. Let's finish it, let's share the results. For the first question, let's see, Mi, do you want to continue with the questionnaire questions? Okay, we start with the first one. Is it possible to form a deep integration space with an intergovernmental institutional structure? Well, most people think so, but it is not convenient.

another minority, the 9% that it is not possible and the 59% the diagram of the institutional structure is independent of the degree of integration. It is true, the diagram of the institutional structure is independent of the degree of integration, but if we want a deeper integration system where commitments are respected, it is necessary

unless the institutional structure has some mechanism for the derived standards to be of direct application. So, to a greater degree of integration, institutional commitment should conveniently be greater.

Obviously, they are opinions, when the Mercosur case was raised, the total discussion was whether the failure of Mercosur in a lot of things depended or not on the law, well, it does not depend only on the law, but on other things sometimes, and the criticism of the Mercosur system has always been its strong intergovernmental character,

has allowed the countries to unilaterally comply or take measures against the Marcos Agreement. We move on to the second one, Lau. Okay. The creation of a customs union. Does the establishment of a common commercial policy between the parties always imply

In some cases, never. Remember that the Doner Union what it does is eliminate the bans on free circulation of goods and requires that the states apply a common external ban. Hence, it requires that there is a commercial policy in terms of which goods will have a ban and which will not. So in these cases, when there is a ban, a common policy is required in terms of bans. Let's go with the third question. The processes...

No, it seems to me that the answer was cut off, there was one more option, I want to clarify, it says that the economic integration processes are an exception to the norms of the OMC due to the habilitation clause, article 24 of the GATT, article 5 of the GATT, and in reality they are the three questions, yes? All the previous ones that would be missing as option 4 in the questionnaire, yes?

Let's go with number 4. From the point of view of the proliferation of regional trade agreements, does the OMC weaken? Yes, because it fragments trade agreements, not because it generates consensus that can then be replicated in the OMC, or the role of the OMC, it does not depend on them. There are different postures of the authors, for some it fragments it, as we are talking about today, others argue that it does not, because in reality negotiations begin in the framework of these trade agreements, and then this debate is taken to the trade unions to multilateralize

discipline and others argue that in reality the role of the OMC does not have to do with agreements but with the multilateral regulation of disciplines. There was no correct answer. Let's go with number 5, Vir. Do you consider that the European Union's environmental policy could be used as a measure to restrict access to the market of products from Latin America and the Caribbean?

26% think so, this is an opinion question, 8% understand that in no way, and 65% understand that it depends on the type of products. It is true that there are products such as meat, grains, that are going to be affected, especially those that come from deforested areas. So, well, we will have to see what the matrix of recombination will be

in terms of the adaptation of agriculture and livestock to this type of standards and how strict the rules of the Green Pact will be in the application. We move on to the next one.

Taking into account your experience and what you have seen in this class, do you consider that integration improves the quality of life of the inhabitants of the participating countries? Well, how good, 93% understands that yes, 2% understands that yes, and 4% does not know it. We move on to the next one, Lautaro.

In the integration degree of customs nations, what characteristics stand out? Free trade of the parts, free trade of the parts and a common external business, free trade of the parts and economic policies. Very well, the majority marked the free trade and the common external business. You will learn this today by heart. The number 8 says, the region with the largest number of...

The number of regional trade agreements celebrated is the European Union, Central America, Latin America. Very good. The majority marked the correct one, which was the European Union, which is the one with the most number of trade agreements celebrated and notified to the World Trade Organization. Let's go with number 9. The regional trade agreements that contemplate the gender of trade are considered second generation, third generation, or fourth generation. Very good. Those that marked fourth generation

Well, Anúil, I'll leave you the last voice.

The bi-regional integration processes take place within the classifications and the options were for the number of parts, 30%, for the degree, 12%, for the geographical location, 58% and we understand that it would be for the geographical location the answer that best adapts to the correct one. Well, this attempt to... For the location we have regional and bi-regional. Yes.

And we conclude here with the questions. Well, thank you all very much for your time, for staying until the end. Any questions you can send these days to the Intal, to the media that surely have the course. We will see you in the next class. We will meet next Tuesday to see a little bit of the more historical part of some integration processes, focusing on some of the region and being able to

We can work with this dynamic of having an expository part and a second part a little more interactive. Being so many people, the interaction part is a bit complex, but I think that with these guides we can work together at least in this way. And well, we thank you, sometimes there are 200 connected people at the end of the class. The truth is that it is a achievement to have had so much time, so many people for two hours. I thank you because when we chose to do a course,

It's time to dedicate and let's do something else. So you chose to share with us this afternoon, which makes me very happy. Surely Virginia too and my colleagues from Intel too. So we thank you all for your presence.