MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“South-South” trade round.

Argentina will propose a round of “South-South” trade negotiations, an initiative which is a virtual challenge to current discussions in the framework of the World Trade Organization, WTO but condemned to failure by the protectionist policies of United State, European Union and Japan.

Addressing the seminar "South American Integration: challenges and opportunities", Argentine Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna was also supportive of trade talks to integrate Mercosur with the United States sponsored Free Trade Association of the Americas, conditioned to the "preservation of Argentine and Brazilian interests".

The seminar organized by "Grupo Brazil" in Buenos Aires is one of the several events taking advantage of Brazilian president Lula da Silva's official visit to Argentina and an opportunity for Argentine and Brazilian businessmen and investors to discuss issues of mutual interest.

"In the coming meeting of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD, we will propose a new round of South-South negotiations", said Mr. Lavagna who indicated that "since the meeting will be held in Sao Paulo we must take advantage of the opportunity".

Mr. Lavagna's proposal challenges the recent failure of several WTO rounds which according to Argentina and Brazil have not advanced because of disagreement on the protectionist policies of the US, EU and Japan.

The Argentine official underlined that a "South-South round is an excellent opportunity to help liberalize world trade and these rounds are contemplated under WTO".