Mercosur

• Thursday, August 22nd 2013 - 00:35 UTC

  Rio do Janeiro mayor questions Brasilia’s 2016 Olympic Games policy

  

  The mayor of Rio de Janeiro has said it is a shame his city will be hosting the Olympic Games in 2016 because Brazil lacks a sports policy. Eduardo Paes said that his city should not pay for high performance athletes.

• Wednesday, August 21st 2013 - 18:55 UTC

  Falklands: Ambassador Castro says comments on PM Cameron were ‘taken out of context’

  

  Argentina's ambassador to Britain said on Wednesday she had not meant to offend British Prime Minister David Cameron when she called him “dumb” and his handling of the long-running dispute over the Falkland Islands “foolish and totally useless”.

• Wednesday, August 21st 2013 - 18:50 UTC

  Chile/Argentina row: Lan Chile evicted from Buenos Aires metropolitan terminal

  

  Chilean president Sebastián Piñera has instructed Foreign minister Alfredo Moreno to immediately contact Argentine authorities following the decision by the government of President Cristina Fernandez ordering Lan Chile to move out from the metropolitan airport of Aeroparque in Buenos Aires.

• Monday, August 19th 2013 - 13:23 UTC

  Mercosur ‘remains a fiction’ admits Uruguayan foreign minister

  

  Mercosur as an only market ‘remains a fiction’ since it is missing the effective implementation and ironing out of trade and macroeconomic reforms, said Uruguayan foreign minister Luis Almagro, who went on to promote “double and triple membership” for Mercosur members.

• Monday, August 19th 2013 - 13:12 UTC

  Uruguay calls on Mercosur to sign a free trade agreement with United States

  

  Uruguayan Vice-President Danilo Astori said Mercosur must decisively address the signing of a free trade agreement with the United States, but also admits that “opportunities must be built”.

• Friday, August 16th 2013 - 02:57 UTC

  Paraguay new president pledges ‘war on poverty’ and improved relations with neighbours

  

  Conservative businessman Horacio Cartes was sworn in as president of Paraguay on Thursday, amid slowly improving relations with South American neighbors, and Mercosur members, damaged by the 2012 removal of populist President Fernando Lugo, who was impeached on incompetence.

• Thursday, August 15th 2013 - 03:51 UTC

  Mercosur controversy, Cartes main challenge when he takes office on Thursday

  

  Most presidents and top authorities that will attend the inauguration of Paraguayan president-elect Horacio Cartes on Thursday morning arrived in Asunción on Wednesday and most of them have already held private meetings with the future leader of the country.

• Wednesday, August 14th 2013 - 03:03 UTC

  Paraguay new government will give priority to bilateral relations, later Mercosur

  

  The priority of the incoming Paraguayan government of president-elect Horacio Cartes who takes office on Thursday is to recompose bilateral relations with the region’s countries and from then on begin negotiations for the return to Mercosur, said Eladio Loizaga a veteran diplomat who on Tuesday was confirmed as future Foreign affairs minister.

• Wednesday, August 14th 2013 - 02:35 UTC

  Ecuador regrets Paraguay did not invite President Maduro to Cartes inauguration

  

  Ecuador regrets that Paraguay has not invited Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro (who is also currently president of Mercosur) to the inauguration of president Horacio Cartes next Thursday, 15 August, said Ecuadorean foreign minister Ricardo Patiño,

• Monday, August 12th 2013 - 18:10 UTC

  Brazil and Uruguay want a “two speeds” Mercosur agreement with the EU

  

  Brazil and Uruguay want to speed a trade agreement with the European Union but without abandoning Mercosur, and making it clear that they are willing to advance at “a different speed” than the rest of the group’s members, revealed a reliable source from the government of President Jose Mujica in Montevideo.