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Summary

Latin America’s economies have grown rapidly in the last decade thanks to their dynamic populations and abundant natural resources. But inequality is still rife and there is still underdevelopment in areas such as healthcare and infrastructure. The exclusion of many from the information society is hindering efforts to redress this. “Seventy per cent of micro-companies have no access to the internet,” says Alicia Barcena, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. “If they had access, it would be a giant leap.”

Lack of regional co-operation coupled with high set-up costs is to blame. “It is very hard to bring networks to rural areas or to areas where income is very low,” says Fabio del Alisal, Director of International Affairs of the Commission of Telecommunications, Spain. “Expected returns are very low for the private sector, particularly when building new generation networks.”

The answer probably lies in liberalised telecoms, truly independent regulators and public-private partnerships. Erlinda Handal, Vice Minister of Science and Technology at the Ministry of Education, El Salvador, says private companies have a natural incentive to help build communications infrastructure. “Building networks is expensive, but what could be considered as an expense should be considered an investment because consumers will need services,” she says.
 

This kind of partnership is more sustainable than the development model that has characterised the Europe-Latin America relationship. Christian Leffler, Managing Director Americas of the European External Action Service, believes the frameworks for co-operation are outdated. “In the past we have too often equated co-operation with development co-operation. Many countries in what we call the developing world have movedon. Talking about development co-operation does not make sense any more - we must simply talk of co-operation.”
 

Rudolf Strohmeier, Deputy DG of the EC’s Directorate General for Research and Innovation, points out that there are now a number of bilateral research and innovation initiatives – in biotechnology, energy, climate change and ICT - in which European and Latin American partners are on an equal footing.

“We are not here to teach,” says Mr. Strohmeier. “We face similar challenges so we must join forces.”