Latin America

Poverty reduction is the main focus of the development strategy shared by most countries in the Central American and Caribbean region. It is instrumental for removing the destabilizing factors that were at the root of the civil wars in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala, and in further promoting building peace in the region. In order to solve the poverty issues from a medium- and long-term perspective, it is imperative that the quality of people's lives be improved through increasing employment and sustained economic growth in both the region as a whole and the individual countries. Keeping in mind the unique aspects of this region of small, tightly grouped countries is an important part of combating the issues that span national borders, such as environmental concerns and infectious diseases control.

Since 1990, many countries in the South American region have undertaken economic reforms including privatization and deregulation, resulting in favorable economic growth. Sharing in matters such as history, culture and language, these countries are becoming active in intraregional cooperation and economic integration as well as liberalization and economic cooperation agreements with other regions. Economic exchange with Japan is also on the increase.

One characteristic of the region is the economic disparity, with some countries having achieved a relatively high economic standard while others remain at a low level. Moreover, poverty is present not only in those countries with a low economic standard, but in those with a high standard as well, and poverty is expanding despite the strong economic growth, increasing the disparity between rich and poor. It is the dissatisfaction of the public with the issue of poverty that has led to the rise of leftist regimes in recent years, and there is movement toward reconsidering economic policies that have been in place until now. The issue of poverty destabilizes politics and economics, which leads to environmental problems as well as social problems such as declining public order.

The natural resources, mineral resources, food supply capacity and economic scale of the South American region is tremendous, but if the politics and economy of the region are thrown into chaos or environmental destruction progresses, it may impact the economy and environment on a global scale. Particularly given the concern throughout the world about climate change in recent years, tackling climate change in the South American region is especially imperative as it has both the world's largest rainforest, the Amazon, and a globally critical food supplying region.

The overseas migration of Japanese people to South America has a history of more than a century, increasing rapidly once emigration began to Peru in 1899 and Brazil in 1908. The ties between Japan and South America have also become stronger for several decades through the human factor, as descendants of Japanese immigrants to South America have been flocking to Japan with their families, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, for work and study.