Mercosur

• Saturday, March 21st 2009 - 10:13 UTC

  Argentina and Brazil close ranks and downplay trade differences

  

  Argentine visiting president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her Brazilian counterpart Lula da Silva called on Friday for speedier financing of joint development and commerce projects to help stimulate decreasing bilateral trade.

• Tuesday, March 17th 2009 - 09:58 UTC

  Mercosur feeling the crunch particularly in trade and credit access

  

  Mercosur is already feeling the effects of the global crisis in its foreign sector and economic activity, according to a report from the prestigious Argentine consultants Ecolatina.

• Saturday, March 14th 2009 - 09:42 UTC

  Trade commitments ease Venezuela’s access to Mercosur

  

  Venezuela and Paraguay closed this week a round of business negotiations to boost bilateral trade which will become effective once Venezuela is formally incorporated to Mercosur, it was reported in Asunción.

• Thursday, March 12th 2009 - 08:30 UTC

  Good prospects in Brazil for Venezuela’s admission to Mercosur

  

  The head of the Brazilian Senate and former president Jose Sarney said that the Mercosur incorporation of Venezuela will be “disturbing” for the trade block but admitted the Upper House would finally approve the admission protocols.

• Monday, March 9th 2009 - 14:20 UTC

  President Vazquez confident Uruguay is prepared for the crisis

  

  Uruguayan president Tabaré Vázquez underlined during a political rally over the weekend the successes of his administration and said the country was better prepared to face the current global crisis.

• Friday, March 6th 2009 - 08:58 UTC

  Brazil Argentina trade clash; dispute could reach WTO

  

  Brazil’s Foreign Trade Secretary Welber Barral admitted publicly that Brasilia is considering taking its trade dispute claims with Argentina to the World Trade Organization. Insistent leaks to the press from “reliable sources” anticipated for days the growing trade rift between Mercosur two main partners.

• Thursday, March 5th 2009 - 23:00 UTC

  Argentine/Brazil bilateral trade drops 40% in Jan-Feb

  

  Bilateral trade between Argentina and Brazil continued to deteriorate during the first two months of the year, according to official statistics released in Brasilia. Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade said that exports to Argentina in January-February were down to 1.33 billion US dollars which represents 46.5% less than Jan-Feb. 2008.

• Thursday, March 5th 2009 - 17:19 UTC

  Andean tunnel project to physically integrate Mercosur

  

  A Chilean and an Argentine company signed a partnership this week for the construction of a low altitude tunnel crossing the Andes to connect the neighboring countries, the crucial link for a bi-oceanic project dating back to 1994.

• Tuesday, March 3rd 2009 - 23:00 UTC

  Obama praises US/UK “special relation”; Brown in Congress

  

  President Barack Obama said Tuesday the US-UK “special relationship will only get stronger”, after holding talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown. It was “not just important to me; it's important to the American people”, he said told reporters in the White House.

• Monday, March 2nd 2009 - 23:00 UTC

  Paraguay announces trade countermeasures on Argentina and Brazil

  

  Paraguay will apply tariff related measures on imports from Argentina and Brazil to protect local industry announced the country's Finance minister Dionisio Borda arguing that the treatment will be similar to that from the senior Mercosur partners.