International trade perspectives between Colombia and the asian countries

Abstract

This paper takes as inputs for its analysis the trade flows between Colombia

and a selected group of the East Asian countries, the export-import trade

for each country, the intra-industry trade taking place in those countries

and the Colombian national competitiveness situation. From that information

it is inferred that Colombia is still following the Dependency path

which means that trade with the most developed Asian countries may fall

in the circumscription of exporting primary sector products. Only if Colombia

seeks to enter in the intra-industry trade sectors in the Asian markets

with competitive products, will be able to diversify its export basket

and break the pattern imposed by dependency. Therefore, the priorities for

Colombia are mainly achieving high national competitiveness and producing

competitive products, but right now competitiveness is still weak and

this demands upgrading its competitive factors.