International Update

Brazil is a strong global competitor with good potential for sustainable growth and prosperity.

Alcoa is taking measures worldwide to reduce high-cost smelting capacity. But the company is striking a different chord in the often strike-prone territory of Québec, where Alcoa and the provincial government announced in February an agreement to improve the competitiveness of its three smelters, securing 3,000 jobs.

Let’s test yours. If you had three chances to guess which Latin American country was the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas to the United States, could you do it?

To the south is a nation where a woman is arrested if she drives an automobile. To the north, across a narrow strait, is a nation which mixes religious politics with nuclear politics.

With the fall of the Iron Curtain a quarter century ago, previously closed nations in Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) welcomed an immense influx of foreign direct investment (FDI), helping it become one of the world’s fastest growing regions.

Asked in 2013 to what degree they agreed with the statement “The oil and gas industry provides significant benefits for the whole country,” only 54 percent of those polled in Québec somewhat or strongly agreed.

Listen to the numbers and they’ll tell you: The world’s economic center of gravity is shifting, and emerging markets are the bull’s eye.

Why is a Mexico manufacturing presence important to automotive suppliers hoping to reach markets beyond North America and Europe?

Gone are the days when corporate investors divided Latin America into three categories: Brazil, Mexico and “everywhere else.

Which Asia-Pacific cities deserve a spot on site selectors’ short lists of potential international headquarters locations?

Singapore-based developer Ascendas has been active in China for 20 years, creating space to meet clients’ evolving real estate requirements.

“We need to become an exporter to the whole world,” Ontario Minister of Research and Innovation Reza Moridi told Site Selection earlier this year.

Malaysia’s Oil & Gas Machinery and Equipment sector gained new momentum in August with the opening of the expansion of Halliburton’s Malaysia Manufacturing and Technology Centre in Senai, in the southern state of Johor Bahru.

When a US$1.8-trillion economy expands at a rate of over 5 percent, it should not cause much despondency, especially in these tough times when many developed economies struggle with 1- to 2-percent growth.

In earning Site Selection's Canadian Competitiveness Award this year, British Columbia's Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training jumps up from a second-place finish last year to snare the prize.

The term Multilatina might have been coined very recently, but the formation and evolution of these companies has been going on for years.

Early June saw the release of the 2013 Major Projects Inventory by the Moncton, N.B.-based Atlantic Provinces Economic Council. A major project is defined as any capital project, including public-sector, valued at $25 million or more ($10 million or more in Prince Edward Island). The 2012 MPI identified 357 major investment projects across Atlantic Canada with a value of $100 billion. This year those numbers totaled 388 projects valued at a record $115 billion.

African success stories may start with Botswana and end - a long time later - with Guinea. So once you establish where it is (on the continent's northwest coast), get over its past and look to the future, there may be a reason to spend more time on the conversation.

My father once mused that Australia and New Zealand exist so the rest of the world has something to envy.