The increasing importance of foreign trade in the developmental politics of the member countries of the Association, and the significance of economic integration among them, favoured the interest of different social strata in the commercial activity, as well as their links to it.

This reality lead the General Secretariat to publish this series of documents aiming at providing information on the most relevant aspects of the practice of international trade, especially those directly related to the Latin-American market under formation among the countries of the ALADI.

The ALADI Journal deals with the following subjects: Regime of Origin, Safeguard Clauses, Customs Procedures, Unfair Trade Practices, International Cargo Transport, and the Agreement on Reciprocal Payments and Credits.

These subjects are, undoubtedly, among the greatest worries of government officials, economic agents, scholars and students, among others, who sometimes do not have at hand a reference document of quick and easy access.

These subjects are also work areas to which Governments and technical officials of the member countries and of the Association dedicated themselves tirelessly for decades, and on which the ALADI has a large accumulation of knowledge that can be considered a Latin-American heritage.

These informative documents are also a result of these efforts and in the future they shall be expended to cover other areas related to international trade and to the Latin-American integration process.