INTRA-REGIONAL TRADE AND GRANDNATIONAL ENTERPRISES IN THE BOLIVARIAN ALLIANCE: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK, METHODOLOGY AND PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/41945944
• Pages: 181-197
• Published date: 01 July 2011
• Date: 01 July 2011
• Author: Maribel Aponte-García

INTRA-RECIONAL TRADE AND

GRANDNATIONAL ENTERPRISES

IN THE BOLIVARIAN ALLIANCE

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK, METHODOLOGY

AND PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS1

Maribel Aponte-García

University of

Puerto Rico

Abstract

The

objective

of

this article is to

present:

preliminary findings

on

intra-regional

trade within

the

Bolivarian

Alliance

for

the

Peoples

of Our

America

(ALBA)

for the

2000-09

period;

a

conceptualisation

for

the

classification/codification

of

grandnational enterprises

and

projects

(GNEPs)

to which this

trade is

related;

and a

model

of

grandnational enterprises

and

projects'

production

and distribution chain.

This work is

part

of a broader

ongoing

research,

the

objective

of

which isto

map

intra-ALBA

trade and

production

with

grandnational enterprises

and

projects' production

and distribution

chains.

A

descriptive

conclusive

research

design

with

mixed methods was

utilised.

Descriptive quantitative

methods were used to

analyse

data

from the

United Nations'

Commodity

Trade database

(UN

Comtrade).

Qualitative

methods

were used to

analyse

and

interpret secondary

data on

grandnational

enterprises

and

projects

that

aided

in

creating

the

codification/classification.

Keywords:

Bolivarian

Alliance,

grandnational,

ALBA,

intra-regional

trade,

strategic

regionalism,

endogenous development,

trade

map

Introduction

The

Bolivarian Alliance for the

Peoples

of Our America

(ALBA)

is an

alternative

integration project

launched

in

2005.

Initially proposed by

Venezuelan

president

Hugo

R. Chávez

Frías,

it

is constituted at

present by eight

member

countries:

Venezuela,

Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador,

Nicaragua, Antigua

and Barbuda,

Saint

Vincent and the

Grenadines,

and Dominica. Honduras

belonged

to ALBA

but was

withdrawn

from the bloc after the

coup

d'état

against

President Manuel

Zelaya.

The

topic

addressed

in this article is contextualised

in two important

developments

that took

place

within

ALBA

between 2008 and 2009: the call

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182 ACADEMIC ARTICLE

-

MARIBEL APONTE-GARClA

to

create the

map

of

goods

('el mapa

de las mercancías

') and

the creation

of

the

concept

of

grandnational enterprises

and

projects.

On 13 December

2009,

President Chávez

proposed, during

the

closing ceremony

of

the Tenth

Cuba-

Venezuela Mixed Commission

meeting,

'the

creation

of

the

map

of

goods

to

advance toward new forms of

production, complementarities

and trade

among

nations'.

In

his address

he

stated that 'we haven't created that

map,

we don't

have

it'. And

continued...

'I think that it is

urgent

we

approach

this.'

'The first

step

is

the

definition and

elaboration

of

the

world's

map

of

goods'2

(author's

translation).

Grandnational

enterprises

and

projects

(GNEPs)

emerged

as alternatives

to

development

models centred on

open regionalism

and

transnational

corporations.

Grandnational

enterprises

are mixed state

enterprises:

state

enterprises

of

two or

more

ALBA

member countries that share

ownership

and that focus on intra-ALBA

trade.

Conceptually,

the

category

of

'grandnational'

was introduced

in

2008,

although

mixed state

enterprises

were

functioning

since 2005 when the

Cuba-

Venezuela

Strategic Agreement

was signed.

Grandnational

projects

are action

programmes

directed at

attaining

ALBA

goals

and

principles,

validated

by

member

countries,

whose

implementation

involves

two or

more

countries,

for the

benefit

of the

great

social

majority.

GNEPs have been

or

are

projected

to be

established

in

areas of ALBA

Agreements:

culture, telecommunications, tourism,

fair

trade,

food,

energy, industry, mining,

finance,

health

and

transportation.

The

concept

of

grandnational enterprises

as a way

of

organising production

at the

regional

level within ALBA was

stated

for

the first time

in

the 2008

text of

resolutions of ALBA's Ministerial

Meeting

celebrated

that same

year.

It was then

stated that3

grandnational enterprises

would be

'those

enterprises

from ALBA

countries

integrated

in

production,

whose

production

is destined

fundamentally

to the intra-ALBA market

(fair

trade

zone),

and whose

operation

would be carried

out

in

an

efficient manner'. Grandnational

enterprises

would be

distinguished

and

differentiated from the

transnational

enterprise:

'The

concept

of

grandnational

enterprises

emerges

in

opposition

to that of

transnational

enterprises,

therefore,

its economic

dynamics

will

be oriented toward

privileging

the

production

of

goods

and services for

the satisfaction of human

needs

guaranteeing

its

continuity

and

breaking

with

the

logic

of

capital

accumulation and

reproduction.'

ALBA

has

been criticised as a geopolitical

initiative

incapable

of

generating

economic

development beyond

flows

associated

with Venezuela's

petroleum

industry.

Furthermore,

ALBA

has been

regarded

as an initiative

dominated

by

Venezuelan

petroleum

exports

with

other

ALBA

members not

having

or

controlling

significant

export capacity

in

any

industry.

However,

that

assertion,

frequently

promulgated

in

the media and

in

discourses

against

ALBA,

has not

been

supported

with

data. Is

this assertion true?

What trade

in

goods

has been

generated

under

this

initiative?

These are some of the

questions

that

this article

addresses.

International

Journal

of

Cuban Studies 3.2 &

3.3 Summer/Autumn

2011