The financial crisis has painfully brought to the fore the importance of global trade interdependence for eco-nomic development. Monitoring the state of the world economy and, more specifically, the prospects for Latin American and the Caribbean regional and global integration is therefore a priority for the countries of the region.This document inaugurates a series of annual reports that will periodically monitor the state of the region’s in-tegration in the global economy. These reports will build on an extensive body of quantitative information made available to the public through INTradeBID, a comprehensive information system on trade and integration devel-oped by the Integration and Trade Sector of the Inter-American Development Bank.
