Mercosur

• Wednesday, February 24th 2010 - 02:29 UTC

  Intra-Mercosur trade experienced one of its worst years in 2009

  

  Trade among Mercosur members plummeted in 2009 under the effects of the international slowdown which severely limited access to financing and made credit in the region harder to obtain, according to a report from the Inter American Development bank, IDB.

• Tuesday, February 16th 2010 - 19:56 UTC

  Mercosur/EU agreement anticipated for next May at Madrid summit

  

  Mercosur and the European Union could be signing a cooperation and free trade agreement, although not in its final version, next May during the two continents summit in Madrid, according to the Brazilian Foreign Affairs minister Celso Amorim

• Wednesday, January 20th 2010 - 06:43 UTC

  Venezuela will become Mercosur fifth full member “next March”

  

  Venezuela’s incorporation to Mercosur will be completed next March according to ABN news agency from Caracas. Apparently the formality will take place in the second week of March following the end of the Paraguayan congressional recess.

• Tuesday, January 19th 2010 - 13:45 UTC

  Argentina/Brazil review bilateral trade in February

  

  Argentina and Brazil will be meeting early February in Buenos Aires to assess how bilateral trade has been evolving and to plan the following steps to keep improving trade relations between Mercosur senior members.

• Wednesday, January 13th 2010 - 08:29 UTC

  Brazilian industry calls for end of “strategic patience” trade policy with Argentina

  

  Brazil’s strongest manufacturing organization (and lobby) is considering the possibility that the country “ceases to be tolerant” towards Argentine trade restrictions and consider the possibility of withdrawing from Mercosur.

• Thursday, January 7th 2010 - 17:32 UTC

  Spain optimistic about an EU/Mercosur trade agreement this year

  

  Spain’s Foreign Affairs minister Miguel Angel Moratinos is confident that the European Union will reach a trade understanding or road map with Mercosur during the first half of this year, since Spain holds the EU rotating presidency.

• Thursday, January 7th 2010 - 16:45 UTC

  Paraguay’s Vice-president contrary to Venezuela joining Mercosur

  

  Paraguay’s Vice-president Federico Franco said he was contrary to Venezuela’s incorporation to Mercosur as long as Hugo Chavez is president accusing him of having “imperial attitudes” towards the land-locked country.

• Thursday, December 31st 2009 - 12:18 UTC

  Dear MercoPress subscribers and readers:

  

  MercoPress wishes all subscribers and readers a very prosperous New Year, hoping 2010 will definitively help to lift the world out of global recession.

• Thursday, December 31st 2009 - 03:07 UTC

  Venezuela’s Mercosur incorporation will help “dilute Brazilian hegemony”

  

  The incorporation of Venezuela to Mercosur will help dilute the Brazil-Argentina hegemony and will be beneficial for small countries said Paraguay’s Foreign Affairs minister Héctor Lacognata on Wednesday chatting with foreign correspondents.

• Wednesday, December 23rd 2009 - 06:13 UTC

  Brazil not pressing Paraguay on Venezuela’s Mercosur incorporation

  

  The Brazilian government is not putting pressure on the Paraguayan Congress to vote the full incorporation of Venezuela to Mercosur. Paraguay is the only remaining full member which still has to vote for Venezuela to join the South American trade block, following last week’s Brazilian senate divided approval.