Hilton Group PLC officially became Ladbrokes PLC Thursday after finalizing the $6.1 billion sale of its hotels business to its U.S. namesake, leaving the British company with just its gaming division. The company earlier said it would focus on expanding internationally, including possible entry into the United States online gaming market, as it released its final full-year combined profit results showing modest increases in net profit and revenue.

Mercosur and European Union representatives meeting in Buenos Aires last week agreed to relaunch bilateral negotiations for a cooperation and free trade treaty which has been bogged for months. Spain´s Foreign Affairs minister Miguel Angel Moratinos currently on a Latin American visit to several countries said that in the meeting “we achieved the political thrust needed for the negotiation to advance, which becomes the most important ingredient when technical experts can´t reach an agreement”.

Embraer is selling two new Legacy 600 business aircraft to Asia, expanding to eight the Legacy 600 fleet in the region. The two new jets will be delivered in 2006. One will be operated by Jakarta-based PT Ekspres Transportasi Antarbenua (Premiair) and the other by an undisclosed company in the region.

With oil exporters Venezuela and Mexico leading, Latin America and the Caribbean posted a $100.8 billion trade surplus with the United States in 2005, up 32.2 percent from the previous year, reported Friday the U.S. Department of Commerce. Latin America and the Caribbean accounted for 17.5 percent of all goods and services imported by the United States, up slightly from its 17 percent share of 2004. But the region accounted for a significantly lower percentage of U.S. exports, 13.2 percent, compared to 21 percent in 2005.

Latin America is going through its best economic upturn in the last thirty years said Luis Alberto Moreno, president of the Inter American Development Bank, IDB, in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde. “Latin America is living its best cycle in three decades”, pointed out Mr. Moreno who nevertheless admitted that the surge in Asian emerging economies is twice as fast. (China has been growing at an annual 8 to 9 percent since 1980 and is forecasted by the World Bank to expand 9,2 percent this year).

The Inter-American Development Bank has made available $1.3 million for the development of environmental and community programs by the Bayahibe and La Romana Hotels Association. The three-year donation requires $535,000 counterpart funding from the Association, for a total program of $1.8 million. The plan is to support sustainable tourism in the area, back best practices and small and promote the integration of midsized business into the tourism sector.