MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Duhalde in Moscow for Mercosur talks

Former Argentine president Eduardo Duhalde currently head of the Mercosur Permanent Representatives Commission is travelling to Russia with the purpose of establishing closer political and trade links.

Mr. Duhalde's delegation includes businessmen from the pharmaceutical, software and biotechnological industries, and the ultimate target is reaching and agreement with Russia in the line of that signed with India.

The Mercosur representative has meetings scheduled in Moscow with Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, Foreign Secretary Seguey Lavrov plus members of the Russian Parliament.

Following Moscow the delegation will visit St. Petersburg industries.

Meanwhile in Buenos Aires Argentine Mercosur and American Economic Integration Under Secretary Eduardo Sigal said that sugar production and automobile manufacturing are still two stumbling blocks inside Mercosur.

"There's no free trade in these industries. There's no way Argentina can compete with Brazil so we are telling our industrialists that the time has come to be competitive at world level", said Mr. Sigal.

The Argentine official, in spite of the recent skirmishes, described the Argentina-Brazil relation as "mature" and can become "positive for both sides". "So, we have to define what kind of Mercosur we are working for".