MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
“Mercosur, the most isolated and protectionist block in the world”
Macri said that decades long protectionist attitude of Mercosur only helped “to deepen poverty in our countries” 
It is time “to target full integration to the global world”, pointed out the president insisting that accord with the EU is a good bridge to advance in that approach. Mercosur is the most isolated and protectionist block in the world, said Argentine president Mauricio Macri on Thursday during a meeting with Argentine media, in Brasilia, in the framework of the current presidential summit during which the six-month rotating chair of the group will passed from Brazil to Paraguay.
Macri added that the decades long protectionist attitude of Mercosur only helped “to deepen poverty in our countries”, and it's time to leave behind the insular outlook and “target full integration to the global world”, underlining that the imminent accord with the European Union is a good bridge to advance in that approach.
The Argentine president said what is at stake in the relation with Mercosur is “modernity”, and to reach the objective “we need a century XXI Mercosur, a global vanguard integration, in which our decisions take into account real changes in the region and the world”. And above all “we need a renewed vision of regionalism which avoids ill spending time and efforts in regional cooperation scenarios that have lost all validity”.
Macri insisted that the current accord with the European Union scheduled for the first half of 2018, is a historic opportunity and “we need that commitment” because Mercosur is in deep need of infrastructure, communication networks, better and simpler customs procedure, since growing domestically can help grow overseas and integrate to the world.
“In its beginnings, Mercosur had a domestic project shared with the partners and an overseas project, but these two dimensions did not always move together or at the same speed. We are convinced that signing deals such as that with the European Union we will strengthen Mercosur and its own integration”, indicated Macri, who also slammed critics of globalization. “It's not if globalization is good or bad, rather what type of globalization we want and/or need”.
Macri also said that Mercosur/Pacific Alliance discussions are advancing in “specific areas”, and anticipated that both regions are destined to be one of the great dynamic growth poles of the world“. The Alliance includes Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico.
Finally on the Argentine presidency of G20, scheduled to hold its summit of world leaders at the end of 2018, Macri described it as an excellent chance to give ”a vision from the South“, since the forum will be the expression of a region and not only of a single country”.
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Read all commentsTalk- talk-talk, but few results because Argentina and Brazil have industries threatened by open free trade. Argentina makes fabulous quality shoes, but now China produces something similar for 1/10th the price.
Dec 22nd, 2017 - 05:17 pm +2Another example why Mercosur is going nowhere is the trend Andes railway project that the Japanese has proposed funding. Right now everything is trucked over the mountains with winter closing the passes. The railway would use a deep tunnel for year round operation and substantially reduce shipping charges. The project continues to be tabled on hold.
@Chicureo
Dec 22nd, 2017 - 09:08 pm +2You're basically right, because Brazil has always been protectionist, but without realizing it, due to short-sighted rather than serious long term planning, or better, NO planning at all, Brazil has allowed in imports from China which have killed off two of it's once large industries - footwear and textiles - plus dozens of other smaller ones. Brazil exports raw materials to China and imports their low cost crap.
In 1990, Fernando Collor, in one of the few good moves he made before being impeached for corruption, opened up the automotive market...he too, was tired of driving around in what he called horse carts...because the vehicles that Ford, GM, Volkswagen and Chrysler produced here, were models that had been discontinued in the US, years before. Regardless of that, imports are still pretty restricted, and if not, highly taxed.
Pirat-Hunter
Dec 23rd, 2017 - 12:41 pm +1On another thread you demand we post in Spanish. OK here goes “¡Vos sos un huevón!”
Happy now?
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