SANTIAGO, Chile, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Latin America's answer to the Panama Canal, an overland link connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans via Chile, Brazil and Bolivia, may open as early as November, officials said.
The ambitious railroad and highway link between Sao Paulo's Santos port in Brazil and Chile's Pacific ports of Iquique and Arica will pass through Bolivia and span more than 2,600 miles.
Officials described the "bioceanic link" as a flagship project for South America's Mercosur trade bloc, giving the community an edge in regional and international trade.
Mercosur has Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay as full members, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru as associate members and Venezuela as full member awaiting ratification.
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.
The corridor will transform economies astride both oceans, giving Mercosur senior partner Brazil additional advantages and open new prospects for landlocked Bolivia and Paraguay.
The corridor will be formally inaugurated jointly by the presidents of Chile, Brazil and Bolivia, officials said, adding that agreement for a joint inauguration of the corridor was already in place. UPI
