1. There is a need to shift existing trade flows between Africa and Latin America to cooperative mechanisms to be created between the payments systems of these two regions. For this purpose, they agreed on the need for in-depth studies on conditions conducive to extending the activities of the respective systems into these mechanisms. The harmonization of rules among payments arrangements is a crucial element for stimulating the establishment of linkages and promoting cooperation between these arrangements.2. Through a radical shift among the relative prices of transferring factors of production across borders (information-intensive ones in particular), electronic commerce has started to affect in a profound and irreversible manner the nature and rationale of a significant portion of international trade flows.