Former Argentine President Mauricio Macri said in Brazil he supported the idea of a single currency for all Mercosur countries because if the bloc was “serious” it needed “the same rules and the same currency, like the eurozone.”
Despite not being the focal point of the day, former Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner stole the spotlight during Javier Milei's inauguration as the new President of Argentina, with a series of gestures that drew attention. Among them was a particularly unusual move as she entered the National Congress at noon.
Argentina's new Foreign Minister Diana Mondino confirmed that her country would resume the process of joining the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which had been initiated under President Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) but was dropped during the Alberto Fernández years (2019-2023).
The city-state of Singapore and a leading business and financial hub in Asia finally signed a free trade agreement with Mercosur during the South American countries summit held in Rio do Janeiro. It is Mercosur's first deal with a Southeast Asian nation.
Credit risk agency Moody's is warning about growing problems with the Chinese economy, and has cut its outlook on government-s debt to negative from stable. China has become the world's second largest economy and the main trading partner, among others of South American countries.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Communications Director Julie Kozack Thursday insisted during a press conference at the agency's headquarters in Washington that Argentina must have a strong and credible Central Bank to reduce inflation under future President Javier Milei. In Kozack's view, high prices are one of the most important imbalances the country needs to tackle.
The traditional olive harvests of Spain and to some extent in some areas of Italy has been far from satisfactory, which means among other consequences that the price of virgin olive oil, so demanding for Mediterranean gastronomy, has soared, and so have attempts to smuggle the produce from northern Africa as well as different methods to commercialize adulterated oil.
The European Union's Commissioner who was due to attend the Dec. 7 Mercosur Summit in Rio de Janeiro to sign the trade agreement between both blocs has canceled his trip, it was reported Sunday. According to the Financial Times, Valdis Dombrovskis shall not be attending the event, which in addition to announcements in Buenos Aires and Brasilia coupled with further negative statements from French President Emmanuel Macron, would amount to the end. at least for now, of the much-heralded agreement.
The global music and podcast streaming service Spotify Friday warned its Uruguayan users that the platform would be leaving the South American country shortly citing drastic changes in the way music works locally and that no new accounts can be opened after Dec. 28, it was reported in Montevideo.
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Paraguay Friday agreed in Dubai on the sidelines of the United Nations Climate Summit (COP28) to “seek opportunities” for the highway due to link the port of Santos, in Brazil, with the Chilean ports of Arica and Iquique. Former Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez has dubbed the initiative “the small Panama Canal.”