Mercosur

• Wednesday, December 21st 2011 - 05:49 UTC

  Chavez claims five Paraguayan lawmakers are impeding Venezuelan access to Mercosur

  

  President Hugo Chavez claimed that a small group of Paraguayan lawmakers, manipulated by a “powerful black hand”, are impeding the long-delayed access of Venezuela as full member of Mercosur.

• Wednesday, December 21st 2011 - 05:39 UTC

  Lugo complains restrictions on market access and in energy integration

  

  Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo called for the free flow and free access of his country’s goods to Mercosur senior members’ markets and insisted on the energy integration of the block.

• Wednesday, December 21st 2011 - 05:34 UTC

  Mercosur signs free trade agreement with Palestinian Authority

  

  Mercosur signed a free trade agreement with the Palestinian Authority on Tuesday, the first between the territories and a block of nations outside the Arab world. The ceremony took place during Mercosur presidential summit in Montevideo.

• Wednesday, December 21st 2011 - 05:29 UTC

  Ecuador wants closer ties between Mercosur and the Andean-Pacific countries

  

  Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa said he was satisfied with having presented an official request for his country to join Mercosur and also called for closer links between Mercosur and the Andean Nations Community, CAN.

• Tuesday, December 20th 2011 - 21:48 UTC

  Venezuela’s full incorporation doesn’t have to be decided today, said Chavez

  

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez arrived in Uruguay on Friday to push for his country's incorporation into the Mercosur trade bloc, in his first official trip abroad since undergoing cancer surgery in June.

• Tuesday, December 20th 2011 - 21:02 UTC

  Uruguay bars vessels but will never share a maritime or economic blockade of the Falklands’ people

  

  Uruguayan President Jose Mujica addressing his peers at the Mercosur summit in Montevideo ratified the country’s position barring Falklands’ flagged vessels from Uruguayan ports in active support of Argentina’s sovereignty claim over South Atlantic Islands, which has led to a serious diplomatic controversy with the UK.

• Tuesday, December 20th 2011 - 19:28 UTC

  Mercosur summit suspended following suicide of a top Argentine official

  

  The Mercosur presidential summit in Montevideo has been temporarily suspended following the news that a member of the Argentine delegation had committed suicide which left delegation members in a state of shock.

• Tuesday, December 20th 2011 - 07:25 UTC

  Malvinas jurisdictional acts are ‘invalid’ for Uruguay, but UK flagged vessels welcomed in Montevideo

  

  “Any jurisdictional acts coming from Malvinas is invalid for us” and therefore Malvinas flagged vessels are barred from Uruguayan ports, a decision which is extensive to all Unasur members, said Uruguayan Foreign Affairs minister Luis Almagro.

• Tuesday, December 20th 2011 - 07:21 UTC

  Argentina/Brazil propose higher external tariffs for Mercosur

  

  Argentina supported by Brazil has proposed increasing Mercosur Foreign External Tariff to better defend the group when country members are being flooded with cheap imports.

• Tuesday, December 20th 2011 - 07:12 UTC

  Chavez expected in Montevideo to announce Venezuela’s Mercosur full membership

  

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said he will travel on Tuesday to the Mercosur summit in Uruguay in his first official foreign trip since undergoing cancer surgery in June and a further sign he is feeling stronger.