Mercosur

• Friday, May 22nd 2020 - 08:59 UTC

  Argentina reaffirms commitment to Mercosur but remains cautious about EU accord

  

  Argentine Foreign Minister Felipe Solá reaffirmed on Thursday the decision of president Alberto Fernandez's government to continue being part of Mercosur. When asked about links with the other member countries of the bloc, Solá said that a “rupture or union depends on the political will of the governments and our will is, that we are not on the rupture path”

• Wednesday, May 20th 2020 - 08:54 UTC

  Trump threatening with a travel halt from Latin America because of worsening coronavirus outbreaks in the region

  

  US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he is considering imposing a halt on all travel coming from Latin America amid worsening coronavirus outbreaks in the region.

• Friday, May 15th 2020 - 08:49 UTC

  Next Monday Itaipu opens its spillway to help lift the drought stricken Parana river level

  

  The world's largest operational hydroelectric dam, Itaipu Plant announced that starting next Monday, May 18, it will open its spillway to help Paraguay and Argentina, which are suffering from a drought and hence having problems transporting their grain harvest.

• Tuesday, May 12th 2020 - 08:52 UTC

  Paraguay fears its success in containing Covid-19 could be threatened by Brazil

  

  Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez has said the spread of coronavirus in Brazil threatens his country's success in containing the virus. Mr Benítez said more than half of Paraguay's 563 cases were people who had entered from neighbouring Brazil.

• Thursday, April 30th 2020 - 09:54 UTC

  Argentina is not abandoning Mercosur, but “we are in no haste to sign any accord”

  

  Foreign minister Felipe Sola said Argentina is “not abandoning Mercosur, and did not leave any chair at the table”. Furthermore, this Thursday a round of ministerial talks will be taking place, requested by Paraguay, to keep analyzing the legal and institutional framework that some members pretend to speed a list of negotiations with other countries.

• Thursday, April 30th 2020 - 08:21 UTC

  Paraguay one of the countries to first bounce back after post coronavirus

  

  Mercosur member Paraguay has a high likelihood of bouncing back best once the novel coronavirus is contained, Rebeca Grynspan, head of the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB), told Radio Nacional del Paraguay on Thursday.

• Wednesday, April 29th 2020 - 09:41 UTC

  Uruguay and Argentina presidents discuss the future of Mercosur

  

  Uruguayan president Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou and his Argentine peer, Alberto Fernandez held a half-hour video conference Tuesday mid-morning to address the recent decision by the current Argentine administration to freeze Mercosur free trade negotiations with potential new partners and instead concentrate efforts in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic and its sanitary, social, economic and employment consequences.

• Wednesday, April 29th 2020 - 07:55 UTC

  Mercosur beef sales to US on the rise, as American abattoirs are closing amid coronavirus complications

  

  Brazil's giant meatpacker Marfrig Global Foods CEO, Miguel Gularte, said the company has resumed sales of fresh beef to the US following a decision by US authorities to open their market to Brazilian beef. American slaughterhouses have been closing amid coronavirus social distancing rules and this has led to unmet demand within the US.

• Monday, April 27th 2020 - 07:59 UTC

  Mercosur: Argentina only interested in block's negotiations with Europe

  

  In the midst of the chaotic situation caused by the pandemic, the Argentine government announced the abandonment of Mercosur negotiations to prioritize the country’s domestic economy and the struggle against the virus. The rest of the bloc members must evaluate legal, institutional, and operational measures emerging from the decision.

• Saturday, April 18th 2020 - 19:56 UTC

  Argentina and Brazil trying to lift the water level of the Parana River, in the heartland of the soy belt

  

  The governments of Argentina and Brazil are in talks to release water from the giant Itaipu Dam with a view to topping up the Parana River, where ebbing levels are conspiring against a US$ 20-billion-a-year crop export business.