Past Events – 2016
The Eighth RFM Meeting was chaired by Paraguay and took place in Washington DC on October 5, 2016. The discussion among Ministers centered on global economic prospects and their impact on the region, and on how regional integration can stimulate growth and contribute to development in the region, in view of the current economic slowdown. In this regard, Ministers underlined the need for further liberalization and convergence in trade policies, harmonization in areas such as rules of origin and non-tariff barriers, as well as increasing investment in physical infrastructure, and undertaking regulatory reforms in border management so as to significantly lower the costs of transport and trade in the region. They also discussed integration of factors of production, in particular financial integration.