Mercosur

• Thursday, July 24th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil Commission Passes Reform Bill, Workers Protest

  In a victory for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a Brazilian Congress commission passed a bill to cut public pension benefits on Wednesday after civil servants clashed with police in protest against the changes.

• Thursday, July 24th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Controversy over free trade agreements

  United States Democrat Congress members are strongly lobbying against the approval of bilateral free trade agreements with Chile and Singapore currently being discussed in Capitol Hill.

• Wednesday, July 23rd 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentina economy forecasted to grow 5,5%.

  Argentina's economy is expected to expand between 5 and 5,5% this year according to the latest report from the country's Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna who is one of the few top officials to accompany President Nestor Kirchner this Wednesday in his two days visit to the United States. The previous forecast was 4,5 to 5%.

• Wednesday, July 23rd 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Breaking News.

  Headlines:
  Chile's economy vulnerable; Volkswagen workers reject redundancies; Argentine oil reserves falling.

• Tuesday, July 22nd 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Kirchner's visit and Argentina's image in the US.

  The much awaited meeting between Argentine President Nestor Kirchner and US President George Bush will take place Wednesday July 23 at 14:15 hours in the White House. Although scheduled for half an hour, this first meeting could last longer since “both presidents have much in common”, remarked James Cheek a former American ambassador in Argentina currently visiting Buenos Aires.

• Sunday, July 20th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Kirchner meets Bush with the IMF in mind

  Argentine president Nestor Kirchner who will be visiting Washington next Wednesday July 23 said he shares with President George Bush several goals: fighting corruption, drug traffic and terrorism. However he anticipated that he also wishes United States will support Argentina in its negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, IMF.

• Friday, July 18th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  US retail prices rise

  United States retail prices in June rose 0,2%, but if volatile items such as food and energy are excluded, inflation remained flat.

• Friday, July 18th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  FAM emergency in Bolivia

  The Bolivian Livestock Health Service declared a sanitary emergency in six of the country's nine regions following the confirmed report of outbreaks of foot and mouth disease in two of them.

• Friday, July 18th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Mercosur, “a protocol of intentions”

  In a most controversial statement Brazilian Agriculture Minister Roberto Rodrigues said this week in Sao Paulo that “trade integration in Mercosur is a fallacy; it's a simple protocol of intentions because since the Asunción agreement in 1991, it has been unable to harmonize macroeconomic policies and its four members don't have a converging vision towards third countries”.

• Thursday, July 17th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  EU-Mercosur talks stalled

  The European Union this week offered Mercosur to open its government purchasing markets as part of the ongoing free trade association talks. However agriculture which is Mercosur main interest and the main stalling point, did not even figure in the EU proposal.