Mercosur

• Monday, February 17th 2014 - 09:54 UTC

  Mercosur condemns violence in Venezuela and calls for dialogue

  

  Mercosur country members, in an official release rejected all acts of violence and condemned the destabilization attempts against the government of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.

• Monday, February 17th 2014 - 07:49 UTC

  Argentina/Brazil diplomatic incident almost triggers another Mercosur stall

  

  In what was described as a “shameful incident”, Brazil had to retract from statements made by one of its diplomats, a condition demanded by Argentina to continue negotiations for a Mercosur common tariffs reduction proposal which was taking place in Caracas. The incident occurred last week but only came to light over the weekend.

• Friday, February 14th 2014 - 21:36 UTC

  Mercosur summit could take place in March, say Paraguay/Venezuela ministers

  

  The much delayed Mercosur summit, originally scheduled for last December could take place in March, according to Paraguay's foreign minister Eladio Loizaga who this week visited his Venezuelan peer Elías Jaua. Venezuela currently holds the Mercosur rotating chair and will be hosting the event when (and if) it finally takes place.

• Tuesday, February 11th 2014 - 08:38 UTC

  Paraguay and Venezuela to discuss Mercosur summit delays and oil

  

  Mercosur summit delays and oil are two of the main issues the Paraguayan foreign minister Eladio Loizaga will address with his Venezuelan peer Elias Jaua, when he travels on Thursday to Caracas. Formally the event is a diplomatic reciprocity for Jaua's visit to Paraguay last 9 October, when the two countries re-established full relations.

• Monday, February 10th 2014 - 04:06 UTC

  Uruguay and Brazil prepared to a 'two-speed' Mercosur/EU trade negotiation

  

  Uruguay and Brazil could be prepared to go ahead with a 'two speed' trade negotiations between Mercosur and the European Union if the Argentine tariff proposal is not as ambitious as that from the rest of its members, according to Uruguayan diplomatic sources.

• 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.