MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mercosur FMs pledge to deepen regional integration amid global trade challenges

For the first time in 34 years, top diplomats of all member countries met twice in less than a month

Foreign Ministers of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur)—namely Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay—gathered Friday in Buenos Aires at the San Martín Palace to advance regional integration amid global trade changes. They focused on eliminating intra-zone trade barriers, strengthening regional value chains, harmonizing regulations, and enhancing physical and digital integration.

During the meeting, they highlighted recent progress in external negotiations, including the EU agreement and ongoing talks with EFTA and the UAE, aiming for completion by 2025.

They also agreed to prioritize commercially significant external negotiations and expand the National List of Exceptions to the Common External Tariff by up to 50 tariff codes. The ministers committed to continued dialogue ahead of the July 2025 Mercosur Summit.

“We consider that the modernization of Mercosur represents a valuable opportunity to deepen our integration in an international environment that is increasingly dynamic and challenging,” Bolivian President Luis Arce Catacora wrote on social networks after the sitdown. He stressed that any opening to new agreements must respect “unity, which constitutes the essential basis of our integration.”

The FMs had already met last April 11, also in Buenos Aires, “which is a clear demonstration of the commitment of the States Parties to the strengthening and unity of Mercosur”, the delegations pondered in a joint communiqué. “For the first time in 34 years since the signing of the Treaty of Asunción, two meetings were held in less than a month,” they also highlighted.

In this scenario, they stressed the importance of “deepening integration through the elimination of intra-zone trade restrictions, the consolidation of regional value chains, the improvement of Integrated Control Areas and greater physical and digital integration between the States Parties”.

The ministers also reiterated the consensus reached at the April 11 meeting on the need to temporarily expand the National List of Exceptions to the Common External Tariff of each Mercosur State Party up to 50 tariff codes. The top diplomats also “emphasized the unity of the regional grouping and its importance in regional coordination, development, and prosperity in the member countries.”

In addition, they agreed to “continue with the frank and open dialogue”, with a view to the LXVI Ordinary Meeting of the Common Market Council and Summit of Mercosur Presidents, to be held on July 2 and 3 at the Palacio San Martín,” the joint statement also pointed out.