LATIN AMERICAN INTEGRATION ASSOCIATION

Spanish Asociacin Latinoamericana de Integracin (ALADI) organization that was established by the Treaty of Montevideo (August 1980) and became operational in March 1981. It seeks economic cooperation among its 11 membersArgentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. ALADI replaced the Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA; Asociacin Latinoamericana de Libre Comercio), which had been established in 1960 with the aim of developing a common market in Latin America. The scheme made little progress, and ALADI was created with a more flexible and more limited role of encouraging free trade but with no timetable for the institution of a common market. Members approved the Regional Tariff Preference scheme in 1984 and expanded upon it in 1987 and 1990.