The US and Peru struck a wide-ranging trade agreement last week following 18 months of talks that had been mired in disagreements over agricultural and intellectual property issues. “An agreement with Peru is a key building block in our strategy to advance free trade within our hemisphere,” said Rob Portman, the US Trade Representative, after announcing the deal in Washington alongside Alfredo Ferrero, Peru´s trade and tourism minister.

Uruguay and Cuba are interested in resuming negotiations for an economic and trade complementation agreement between Havana and Mercosur. “The agreement could be very important in trying to overcome the four-decade-long United States trade embargo on Cuba,” said Uruguayan Foreign Affairs minister Reynaldo Gargano earlier this week in Montevideo, following a meeting with visiting Cuban Deputy Foreign Secretary Rafael Dausa.

Former Argentine vice president Carlos Alvarez will become the new president of the Mercosur Commission of permanent representatives. He will be taking office during the December 8/9 presidential summit in Uruguay. Argentine President Nestor Kirchner made the appointment announcement last week during a press conference in Puerto Iguazu, northern Argentina, following a meeting with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inancio Lula da Silva.

The US dollar recovered much of the previous session´s losses yesterday as a raft of economic data pointed to the continuing health of the US economy. In particular, dollar bulls were cheered by data on new homes sales, which undid much of the gloom surrounding Monday´s soft existing homes sales numbers.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts has acquired the Le Meridien brand for approximately $225 million. The acquisition will significantly increase the company´s presence in Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific. The acquisition supports Starwood´s strategic shift from its significant real estate ownership to a management and franchise fee focused model.

Caribbean Trade Ministers meeting in Barbados last week, in preparation for the Sixth World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference, which will take place in Hong Kong December 13 to 18, stressed that unless development issues are given prominence in the negotiating agenda, the Ministerial is not likely to end in agreement. The development dimension of the Doha Round is vitally important for the Caribbean, but continues to be neglected in the negotiating agenda. Success for the Doha Round must be gauged by how effectively the interests of the most vulnerable WTO Members, as measured against poverty and small size, are addressed.