
Brazil’s proposal to Mercosur members of a coordinated tariffs’ package with the purpose of containing unexpected imports surges, particularly of cheap products, from Europe, Asia and the United States is to be implemented in the second half of the year.

Uruguayan president Jose Mujica called on Sao Paulo corporations to cooperate with the development of Mercosur partners by adopting a policy of alliances with local companies and leaving aside ‘colonizing’ temptations.

Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff said it was urgent for Mercosur/European Union trade negotiations to conclude although also emphasizing the need to promote and intensive South/South relations, but warning that some outer region countries are intent in “sending us what they can’t sell in developed countries”.

The UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Eclac, raised its 2011 growth estimate for the region to between 4.5% and 5%, said Executive Secretary Alicia Bárcena.

Trade problems between Mercosur two main partners ‘subsist’, but both sides are optimistic that they can be solved. The revelation in the framework of the Mercosur summit follows weeks of discussions and paralyzing trade, sometimes for weeks at the borders.

The Mercosur presidential summit unanimously supported Argentina’s legitimate sovereignty rights over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands and strongly rejected “regrettable statements” from British Defence Secretary Liam Fox regarding the use of force.

Mercosur plans to begin negotiations with associate members Bolivia and Ecuador to make them full members, said Brazilian Foreign Affairs minister Antonio Patriota during Wednesday’s presidential summit in Paraguay.

Argentina Economy Minister Amado Boudou said that the idea of appealing to an only shared currency by Mercosur members generates ‘doubts’ given the European experience, and feels more inclined ‘to stimulate trade with local currencies”, so that each member country can take advantage of monetary policy macroeconomic instruments.

Mercosur Ministers of Industry meeting in Paraguay, ahead of the presidential summit, discussed on Tuesday different mechanisms to weaken the flood of ‘cheap’ manufactured goods from Southeast Asia.

Mercosur structural convergence fund, Focem, which was created in 2005, has distributed 1.1 billion US dollars among its full members for the implementation of 37 projects basically to improve roads for inter-region and international trade, according to official figures released in Asunción.