MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mercosur, Lula's priority

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil's almost certain next president wrote in a column in an Argentine newspaper that Mercosur will be his administration's foreign policy priority if he's elected next October 6th.

"Priority number one of my foreign policy is the reconstruction of Mercosur, a process significantly affected by the crisis that have shaken all member countries", says Mr. Lula.

"Mercosur will need a consensus foreign policy to tackle the complex challenges of the Americas Free Trade Association discussions, relations with the European Union and other world blocks, but mainly to attract other South American partners".

"The complementation of our economies is evident and the expansion of our markets will benefit us all", wrote Mr. Lula who according to the latest opinion polls is expected to win in next Sunday's first presidential round.

Lula ends his column with a polite message: "the only thing that separates us definitively is football (Argentines and Brazilians). That's an irreversible dispute. But conflicts in the field only last 90 minutes".

Lula's column is part of an effort to placate Argentina after having publicly said that "Brazil is not a banana republic, it's not Argentina". The former radical union leader made the statement following a week of financial turmoil in Brazil, where markets are fearful of his victory and future economic policies.

However Argentine president Eduardo Duhalde who had a one day scheduled visit to Brazil to sign trade agreements downplayed the incident, saying that Argentina and Brazil will continue to have a "positive relation" and are capable of "solving their problems".

Mr. Duhalde and President Henrique Cardoso signed an extension of the automobile agreement, that represents 25% of bilateral trade, and a revitalization of the Reciprocal Credit understanding targeted to finance trade promotion between both countries.