MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Frei sceptical about Mercosur's future

Chile's former president and current leader of the Senate Eduardo Frei forecasted a dim and uncertain future for the Mercosur integration process, mainly because of the lack of political will.

"If it's not regulated, it's the law of the jungle. That's what has happened with Mercosur which I believe does not have much future because of the lack of political will", said Frei who is currently in Beijing for the last practical details of the China/Chile bilateral free trade agreement which becomes effective October first.

Senator Frei added that Latinamerican integration is going through a difficult process, not less because of the constant interference of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in the internal affairs of the region's countries.

"Venezuela is not contributing to the unity of Latin America, or its political stability because nobody is entitled to intervene in the internal affairs of other countries and this attitude only contributes to des-unite and discredit the continent", said Frei talking with the press.

Venezuela's participation in Mercosur "has not given the group new life" rather the group is heading for "a system of fixed prices and implicit subsidies".

"As long as this continues along this path there's no joint economic or political future", insisted Frei who added that "even when Latinamerica is our yard, with these differences you must look for other commercial and trade options because globalization has arrived to stay".-

Chile is the first Latinamerican country to sign a free trade agreement with China, which is the country's second trade associate behind United States. Since 1996 trade between China and Chile has increased seven fold and in 2005 totaled 7.2 billion US dollars.