With all the news coming out of Europe, Asia and the Middle East, it's easy to forget about Latin America. That's a pity, because Latin America has the potential to be a great market and an even better business partner.

Latin America is evolving at astonishing speed. New technologies are opening the doors to long-awaited economic and social reforms that will create new wealth -- and new opportunities for brand expansion. A recent conversation I had with Jeanette Slepian rekindled my latent interest in Latin America. Jeanette is the president of BetterManagement (www.bettermanagement.com), the well-respected online executive education resource. Her role requires her to keep a sharp eye on global business trends. When she suggested that I pay closer attention to Latin America, which accounts for 25 percent of her market, I took her advice.

"All the issues in Latin America have been magnified by the global economy," Slepian told me. "Technology and trade now make it impossible for large entities to dominate national markets in Latin America they way they could in the past. That means there's more room for competition. And where there is competition, there is growth."

The increased pace of international trade in Latin America makes it unlikely for this trend to diminish. Another key factor in the changing economic landscape of Latin America is the availability and relatively low cost of information technology.

"Information drives decision-making processes. In the past, information was tightly-held. Only a handful of people made all the decisions. Today, corporations in Latin America push information out to the desktop, so decisions can be made throughout the organization. It's a major change, but it's necessary," Slepian said.

BetterManagement recently concluded its third annual Latin America business conference in Mexico City. The conference gathered leaders from the public and private sectors to explore critical issues related to the rapidly morphing economies of Latin America.

One of the keynote speakers was Hernando de Soto, the visionary economist and bestselling author of The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. This groundbreaking book, which focuses on the crucial role of legal property rights in societies, has inspired thinkers on both the right and the left sides of the political spectrum.

De Soto is currently working with President Vincente Fox of Mexico to launch a program that would grant property titles and create incentives for small, informal businesses to enter the formal economy. He's also working with more than thirty heads of state across the globe to streamline the process of transforming dead capital into working capital through the process of granting formal property rights to millions of people.

Last month he became the second winner of the Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty. That prize is awarded every other year by the Cato Institute to an individual who has made a significant contribution to advancing human freedom. De Soto's efforts to create and distribute wealth more fairly -- and more formally -- certainly represent a step forward for the economies of Latin America.

"Hernando de Soto is doing important work. He's an advocate for real change. The truth is that survival requires change," Slepian said. "And Latin America is changing."