Mercosur

• Sunday, April 24th 2011 - 01:30 UTC

  Venezuela formally exits Andean nations and waits for Mercosur incorporation

  

  Venezuela formally exited the Andean Community of Nations, CAN, Friday when it stopped belonging to the free trade zone which for 38 years eliminated a full range of tariffs among its members (Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Colombia), announced the Venezuelan Foreign Affairs ministry.

• Friday, April 22nd 2011 - 05:05 UTC

  Mercosur and South America, remain top priorities of Brazilian diplomacy

  

  South American countries, particularly Mercosur members remain as top priority of Brazil’s foreign policy confirmed this week President Dilma Rousseff.

• Tuesday, April 19th 2011 - 04:09 UTC

  Argentine footwear industry planning to make 200m pairs by 2020

  

  Argentina's footwear industry hopes to make 200 million pairs and export 50 million shoes as part of new strategic growth plan by 2020, according to officials at leading trade federation Camara de la Industria del Calzado (CIC).

• Monday, April 18th 2011 - 06:23 UTC

  Mercosur organized joint program to combat dengue

  

  Mercosur will consider next June adopting a regional joint program to combat the mosquito transmitted dengue disease, which has become endemic in the group with the exception of Uruguay, and which has forced landlocked Paraguay to declare a national emergency.

• Saturday, April 16th 2011 - 02:20 UTC

  EU agriculture impact report before presenting “proposal list” to Mercosur

  

  The European Commission will be presenting in the next weeks a report on the consequences for the European agriculture of a trade agreement with Mercosur, announced EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos following a Thursday meeting of the Agriculture Council in Luxembourg.

• Friday, April 15th 2011 - 02:13 UTC

  Mujica promises to control the curse of inflation, but ‘there are no magic solutions’

  

  President Jose Mujica promised there will be no ‘uncontrolled inflation in Uruguay’ and although admitting it’s not a simple problem, with no magic solution, there are “sufficient tools’ to address the issue including putting “government spending on a diet”.

• Friday, April 15th 2011 - 00:12 UTC

  “Other blocks demand too much from Mercosur and offer too little”

  

  Several Mercosur negotiations with other blocks have failed because “they ask too much and offer too little” said Samuel Pinheiro recently appointed Mercosur High Representative and who is holding a round of meetings with member countries’ leaders.

• Friday, April 15th 2011 - 00:01 UTC

  ‘Argentina’s protectionism’ the great obstacle for EU/Mercosur trade talks

  

  European Union’s top trade negotiator, Karel de Gucht, accused Argentina of being “the great obstacle” in an association agreement between the EU and Mercosur, and threatened to take the case before the WTO.

• Thursday, April 14th 2011 - 23:50 UTC

  Mercosur outperformed in 2008/09 recession and during 2010 recovery

  

  Latin America and the Caribbean have weathered the 2008-2009 recession much better than it had previous downturns. However less well-known is that the region, particularly Mercosur members, also decisively outperformed many other regions during the same period with a decline in growth smaller than that of the middle-income country average and with a rebound that was swifter and stronger.

• Thursday, April 14th 2011 - 16:55 UTC

  New Paraguay minister to press for vote on Venezuela’s Mercosur incorporation

  

  Venezuela in Mercosur will act as a balancing element and Unasur has more than proven its merits, said Paraguay’s new Foreign Affairs minister Jorge Lara Castro who insisted the country must work urgently to overcome asymmetries in the region and passive integration is not enough.