South America’s answer to the Panama Canal — an ambitious, 2,600-mile railroad and highway link connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans via Chile, Brazil and Bolivia — may open as early as November, officials said.
Already the booming economies of South America have prompted the cash-strapped European Union to soften its resistance to closer trade links that its farmers oppose for fear of losing out to cheaper Latin agricultural produce.
European strategists see closer trade links with South America as a lucrative starting point for exploiting new opportunities — a view echoed in China, other East Asian countries and the Pacific region.