New ground.

Editors typically use this space to talk about what's in the current issue. This month I thought it best to talk a moment about big changes taking place here.

First off, June is our first month in Portuguese. After more than five years as a two-language magazine we have taken the steps to provide our award-winning coverage of Brazil in our readers' native tongue. LATIN TRADE already has thousands of readers in the country in English; now they have a choice, and we hope to add thousands more by speaking to them directly.

What is not changing is our content--top interviews, the biggest companies and the best coverage of business in Latin America. What better way to inaugurate coverage in Portuguese than by landing an exclusive interview with Brazilian Trade Minister Luiz Fernando Furlan. He's part of our new feature on the hottest exporters in the region.

Next, we added pages to nearly every section in the magazine. Logistics coverage is stronger, our technology section is bigger, and the indicators portion of the magazine has grown to reflect, Latin America's arrival on world markets. Our research team has worked against the clock to bring together data about Latin America that you simply will not find anywhere else.

Finally, our design team, working with top international branding talent, has done a truly magnificent job in rethinking our look, our logo and nearly every aspect of our presentation. This was no mere exercise in change for change's sake: The redesign took into account plenty of difficult editorial decisions. Letting go of the past is hard, but it breaks ground for the future and makes you more competitive in the market.

If you are a longtime reader, much of what you know will be here, only better and more of it. If you are new to LATIN TRADE, bem-vindo!

Greg Brown 

[e-mail]

P.S. Stocks took off over the last year. Will the ride up continue? Check our personal finance coverage for investment tips from top financial minds. (Page 32)