Stories for July 17th 2003

Thursday, July 17th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

Fisheries News.

Hedlines: Anchovy fishing ban in Peru; Chilean Fishery exports up 18.5%; Scottish Federation ratifies CFP position; Australian fishing industry threatened by marine pests; Argentine hake management advisory body; Chile debates long term fishing law amendments;

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.

Thursday, July 17th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

Chirac promises full support for Argentina

As happened with Britain and Germany, and in Brussels, visiting Argentine president Nestor Kirchner was promised this Wednesday in Paris, support by his French counterpart President Jacques Chirac in Argentina's negotiations with the International Monetary Fund and with the recovery of the country's economy.

Thursday, July 17th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

IMF praise for Uruguay

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) praised Uruguay after having completed the third review under the Stand-By Arrangement for Uruguay anticipating the immediate availability of a disbursement of SDR 145.7 million, about US$204 million. The current Stand-By Arrangement was initially approved on March 25, 2002 in an amount of SDR 594.1 million (about US$823 million) for a 24-month period. The arrangement was augmented by SDR 1.16 billion (about US$1.6 billion) on June 25 2002 and by SDR 376 million (about US$521 million) on August 8, 2002.