MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mercosur Summit: Milei pledges to go through together or solo

The gathering took place at the Palacio San Martín (Foreign Ministry) in Buenos Aires

Argentine President Javier Milei urged the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) on Thursday to abandon its “destructive inertia,” as he hosted the bloc's Summit in Buenos Aires. He also underscored his government's commitment to “the path of freedom,” warning that “we will embark on” it, “either accompanied or alone.”

Milei argued that Mercosur has become less of a common market and needs greater autonomy for each member to leverage its comparative advantages. He also mentioned that if partners prefer to persist on an unproductive path, Argentina would insist on more flexible partnership conditions and prioritize its urgent need for more trade, economic activity, investment, and jobs, even if it means moving forward unilaterally.

As Argentina was preparing to hand over the group's pro tempore presidency to Brazil, the country boasted the expansion of the “national lists of exceptions to the common external tariff” as a major achievement, coupled with the Free Trade Agreement with the EFTA bloc (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland), which will create a free trade area encompassing nearly 300 million people and a substantial GDP.

“It would be a great joy if, in a few years, when Argentina once again has the opportunity to preside over this bloc,” they find themselves “in the final stretch to achieve” a set of objectives aimed at opening up Mercosur's trade, Milei stressed.

“We urgently need more trade, more economic activity, more investment, and more jobs. And that is why we urgently need more freedom. Our nation has decided to leave decades of stagnation behind and embark on the path of progress,” he also noted.

Milei was joined at the Palacio San Martín by Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein and Presidential Secretary -and sister- Karina Milei. Visiting heads of State included Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Brazil), Santiago Peña (Paraguay), Yamandú Orsi (Uruguay), Luis Arce Catacora (Bolivia), and José Raúl Mulino (Panama - associate member).