Mercosur

• Saturday, February 8th 2014 - 06:35 UTC

  Mercosur interested in trade integration with members of the Pacific Alliance, says Brazil

  

  Mercosur pretends to increase its trade integration with members from the Pacific Alliance, said Brazilian foreign minister Luiz Alberto Figuereido. The top official made the statement this week before the Brazilian Senate foreign affairs committee.

• Thursday, February 6th 2014 - 21:58 UTC

  Mercosur committee to meet next week to address tariffs' reduction proposal

  

  A Mercosur technical committee will be meeting next week in Venezuela to elaborate the group's final tariffs reduction proposal to exchange with the European Union as part of the ongoing, but long delayed, negotiations to reach an ambitious free trade agreement, according to Brazil's foreign minister Luiz Alberto Figuereido.

• Monday, February 3rd 2014 - 19:34 UTC

  Mercosur still waiting to agree on a date for the much delayed summit

  

  Mercosur through its pro-tempore presidency under Venezuela is involved in a round of contacts to agree on the group's much delayed XLVI summit which has been postponed because of problems with 'presidents' agenda', revealed Paraguayan foreign minister Eladio Loizaga.

• Wednesday, January 29th 2014 - 22:38 UTC

  Brazil can't be hostage of Argentina or Venezuela in Mercosur/EU trade negotiations

  

  The Brazilian government is determined to advance with negotiations for a trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union even if it means leaving Argentina for a second phase of the process, according to sources from Itamaraty, the country's foreign ministry, reported in the Rio do Janeiro media.

• Monday, January 27th 2014 - 16:48 UTC

  Falklands Islands, CELAC and the right to self-determination

  

  By Tim Cole - This week the CELAC Summit will be held in Havana and the Cuban government will be in charge of finalizing the language in the Summit declarations. Inevitably there will be one on the Falkland Islands and I suspect it will ignore the referendum held on the Islands last year when 99.8% voted in favor of the Islands remaining an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom.

• Saturday, January 25th 2014 - 03:25 UTC

  Argentina rolls back dollar restrictions hoping to contain market volatility; Monday test day

  

  Argentina lifted on Friday restrictions on personal US dollar purchases for citizens, ending a prohibition on greenback savings that began at the end of 2011. The new measures, which occur one day after both the official and parallel 'blue' dollar saw record rises, were announced in a short press conference by Cabinet Chief Jorge Capitanich and Economy Minister Axel Kicillof. The measures become effective from Monday onwards.

• Saturday, January 25th 2014 - 00:28 UTC

  Mantega insists that the Mercosur/EU trade agreement includes Argentina

  

  Mercosur is preparing for trade negotiations with the European Union and they include Argentina, said on Friday Brazilian finance minister Guido Mantega at the World Economic Forum taking place in Davos, Switzerland. The comment seems to contradict other recent statements which said the trade deal with the EU will go forward with or without a reluctant Argentina.

• Friday, January 24th 2014 - 03:35 UTC

  Mercosur/EU with their own problems still don't have a date to continue negotiations

  

  Mercosur and the European Union continue to work on their tariff reduction proposals list but have no scheduled date for negotiators to meet and advance on a long delayed trade agreement according to Uruguayan diplomatic sources. However what is certain is that when the date is agreed it will be clear if Mercosur consensus proposal will include all founding members of the group.

• Friday, January 24th 2014 - 03:33 UTC

  Ecuador airline suspends flights to Venezuela because of tickets' debts

  

  Ecuadorean airline Tame has suspended flights to Venezuela, demanding 43m dollars in overdue payments for tickets. Some 80 passengers were left stranded on Thursday at the airport in the Ecuadorean capital, Quito. Tame says the Venezuelan Central Bank has not transferred any money to its account in Ecuador since April 2013.

• Friday, January 24th 2014 - 03:31 UTC

  Discos are common in Venezuelan penitentiaries, admits minister

  

  Discotheques have long operated inside Venezuelan penitentiaries, the head of the country's prison service said Thursday in response to a public uproar over the death of a young man after partying at a disco behind bars.