These institutions which foundered due to Sandinista policies in the early 1980s are urgently needed to stimulate intra-regional trade and economic growth.
Intra-regional free trade agreements such as Mercosur and the proposed pact involving Chile, Mexico, Colombia and Peru tend to enhance economic growth for all the participants.
Otherwise, regional harmony, not to mention intra-Asian business, will shrivel, and the resulting tensions among nations would play into the hands of leaders who would point at perceived foreign threats to justify autocracy.