
In a conciliatory speech compared to previous statements, President Cristina Fernandez said on Friday her government would negotiate with all of Argentina's creditors in a bid to avoid a new debt default that would further weaken the country's ailing economy.

The Uruguay-Germany commerce and industry chamber (AHK), expressed its deepest concern over the current tension in relations between Uruguay and Argentina, and warned about the impact on the business climate for the two countries.

Argentina and Brazil have again clashed not over football but over trade and Mercosur according to the Sao Paulo media. Brazil believes there is a lack of ambition from Argentina to finish polishing the proposal to be exchanged with the European Union for a much delayed cooperation and trade agreement.

After a day of fury and discussions with cabinet members, advisors and experts, Argentine president Cristina Fernandez will be sending a government delegation to New York to meet Judge Thomas Griesa and the hedge funds holdouts' solicitors and begin, hopefully, a round of negotiations to reach a settlement on the bonds litigation.

Uruguay has released a draft map of four ultra-deepwater and seven shallow-water blocks in the Punta del Este-Atlantic basin that will be on offer in the country’s third oil and gas bid round next year, officials said in Moscow this week, according to the oil and gas site Upstream.

The following piece by Charles Lane published in the The Washington Post offers an interesting debate about future bailouts and sovereign debt restructuring, following on Argentina's case.

Colombia and Brazil's presidents Juan Manuel Santos and Dilma Rousseff met in Brasilia to address regional and bilateral affairs and the possibility of closer links between the Pacific Alliance and Mercosur, which are naturally complementary and do not compete among themselves.

Payment of bond service due on June 30 in New York has been made impossible by Wednesday's lifting of a stay by a U.S. federal court, Argentina's economy ministry said on Wednesday, in a move that appeared to push the country closer to default.

The US Federal Reserve has cut its growth forecast for 2014 because of the harsh winter weather. The central bank is now predicting growth of between 2.1% and 2.3% for this year, down from its March forecast of 2.8% to 3%.

US Judge Tomas Griesa said on Wednesday that the televised speech delivered by President Cristina Fernández on Monday after the US Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by Argentina in its battle against the holdouts was “a problem” for negotiations and implied he did not trust the Argentine leader.