
The tendency to impose trade-restricting measures remains strong among the European Union's commercial partners, fuelling continuing uncertainty in the world economy. These are the main findings of the European Commission's annual report on protectionism published Monday 17 November.

By Jaime Trobo (*) - Parlasur, acronym for Mercosur Parliament, decided to approve a declaration relative to the Malvinas Islands situation, and more specifically on the sovereignty conflict between the Argentine Republic and Great Britain, which has been ongoing for over 180 years with no reasonable accord.

By R. Viswanathan (*) - The reelection of President Dilma Rouseff means continuation of the slow growth of the Brazilian economy and a lower likelihood of much-needed, major political and economic reforms. India should lower its expectations on a global partnership with Brazil.

The Mercosur parliament, Parlasur, in a special Monday session held in Montevideo, rejected British 'control' over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands and described the situation as a colonial conflict of 'global' proportion which threatens the region.

The Falklands/Malvinas dispute and 'colonialism' will be discussed on Monday during an extraordinary session of the Mercosur Parliament, Parlasur, in Montevideo with the attendance of Argentine and Uruguayan foreign ministers Hector Timerman and Luis Almagro.

Mercosur and the Pacific Alliance are not contradictory competing blocks, and can advance towards a mutually beneficial convergence, said Chile's Economy minister Luis Felipe Cespedes during a trade and investment promotion seminar in Brazil.

Brazil ran a trade deficit of 1.17 billion last month, the largest shortfall for October in 16 years, the government said on Monday. Imports totaled 19.5bn, while exports amounted to 18.3bn, the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade said in a report.

Mercosur and Pacific Alliance foreign affairs ministers met this weekend in Colombia for a first round of talks on integration mechanisms and the potential for specific alliances. The idea of the meeting was first launched by Chile with the purpose of a 'convergence' of interests and a possible future integration.

In a harsh letter, released on Friday, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez urged US President Barack Obama to explain whether ”Nancy Soderberg, the person you have appointed as Chair of the Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB), which reports directly to the Government of the United States of America, is also the Co-Chair of the American Task Force Argentina (ATFA), an entity specifically created to attack and slander the Argentine Republic and its President.”

The Pacific Alliance and Mercosur will be holding a two-day ministerial informative meeting in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, beginning this Friday, a first approach to a possible convergence of the two groupings, according to official releases.