Mercosur

• Friday, July 24th 2009 - 14:30 UTC

  Mercosur will end 2009 with positive economic activity, say ministers

  

  Mercosur will conclude this year with positive rates of economic activity in spite of the global crisis, although some members such as Paraguay might not be able to contain the downfall and will end in red numbers.

• Friday, July 24th 2009 - 14:28 UTC

  Uruguay criticizes Mercosur trade barriers and integration delay

  

  Uruguay criticized trade barriers imposed by Mercosur country members which, it said seriously threaten the integration process and represent a “severe reversal” for the original project.

• Friday, July 24th 2009 - 13:51 UTC

  Uruguay takes Mercosur chair for the next six months

  

  Uruguay officially takes the pro-tempore chair of Mercosur from Paraguay on Friday during the main ceremony of the group’s presidential summit in the capital of Paraguay, Asuncion. Originally the meeting was to receive eight presidents but al last moment Ecuador and Venezuela turned back.

• Wednesday, July 22nd 2009 - 21:57 UTC

  Trade in local currencies instead of US dollar, Mercosur proposal

  

  Mercosur presidents will consider this week during the summit in Paraguay, the possibility of using local currencies to finance inter-region trade, revealed the host country’s president Fernando Lugo.

• Wednesday, July 22nd 2009 - 07:18 UTC

  Uruguay rejects proposal to grant Mercosur more powers

  

  Uruguay will reject a Brazilian proposal to create a Mercosur High Court of Justice and grant more powers to the regional parliament when the Mercosur summit meets next Thursday and Friday in Paraguay. Uruguay also anticipated it would make a strong claim regarding the trade barriers imposed by Mercosur senior members, Argentina and Brazil.

• Tuesday, July 21st 2009 - 22:44 UTC

  Brazilian Senate supports Venezuela in Mercosur, but watchful of Chavez

  

  “Respect for democracy is a very important principle for those who are or want to become members of Mercosur”, said Eduardo Azeredo president of the Brazilian Senate Foreign Affairs and Defence committee.

• Tuesday, July 21st 2009 - 11:23 UTC

  Mercosur stalled development and Honduras in Friday’s summit agenda

  

  Bureaucratic problems stalling the development of Mercosur is the main issue to be addressed at the presidential summit of the trade block next Friday in Asuncion, Paraguay, according to regional press reports.

• Tuesday, July 21st 2009 - 10:43 UTC

  EU/Mercosur talks expected to resume in 2010

  

  European Union Foreign Relations Commissar, Benita Ferrero-Waldner said on Monday that the Spanish presidency of the European Union in 2010 “should be a good moment and opportunity” to resume the stalled discussions of the European block with Mercosur.

• Sunday, July 19th 2009 - 18:46 UTC

  Eight presidents expected at this week’s Mercosur summit

  

  This coming week’s Mercosur presidential summit in Paraguay will convene eight South American leaders, announced Paraguayan Foreign Affairs minister Hector Lacognata during a press conference Saturday in Asuncion.

• Thursday, July 16th 2009 - 07:20 UTC

  The supra-national issue surfaces in the coming Mercosur summit agenda

  

  The approval of the new composition for the Mercosur Parliament scheduled to be agreed later this month at the group’s presidential summit in Paraguay could be postponed given conflicting interests on supra-national decisions.