Mercosur

• Saturday, September 18th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Mexico and Japan sign free-trade accord.

  Mexico and Japan capped two years of intense negotiations Friday by concluding a broad economic pact that eliminates trade barriers and aims to boost bilateral investment activity.

• Friday, September 17th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Latin-American integration has to be a priority.

  The presidents from Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, appealed to make Latin-American integration a priority, according to a joint statement made after the meeting held on Wednesday in Manaus and disclosed yesterday in Brasilia.

• Friday, September 17th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Batlle to attend General Assembly of the United Nations.

  President Jorge Batlle will travel to the United States between Sunday 19 and Thursday 23 to meet with world leaders on the issues of hunger and poverty and to attend the 59 Session Period of the General Assembly of the United Nations, as informed today by the Presidency of the Republic of Uruguay.

• Friday, September 17th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Vaclav Havel, favourite candidate, Bush in the last place.

  Former Check President Vaclav Havel has a lot of chances of getting the Nobel Peace Prize while the President of the United States, George W. Bush, ranks last in the list, said several forecast experts only three weeks away from the final verdict.

• Thursday, September 16th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentine Economy Minister Denies Resignation.

  Argentine Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna, the most influential member of President Kirchner's cabinet has denied rumours that he is to resign.

• Thursday, September 16th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  President Lagos Travels to New York.

  Chilean President Ricardo Lagos will travel this coming weekend to New York to participate in the ”hunger summit'' and the General Assembly of the United Nations.

• Thursday, September 16th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Chilean Wines Hope to Become UK Leader.

  Conquer the United Kingdom as one of the main Chilean wine importers and extending the availability of the wines were the main objectives of the Annual Trade Testing, an event organised in London by Wines of Chile.

• Thursday, September 16th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Sixty Seven Counties at UN General Assembly.

  Peace and world security, sustainable growth and the reform of the United Nations will be priorities at the 59th General Assembly which has been inaugurated in New York by its president Jean Ping.

• Thursday, September 16th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  IMF sees stronger global financial system.

  The global financial system is stronger than at any point since the stock market bubble burst in 2001, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday, in spite of interest rate increases by the US Federal Reserve.

• Wednesday, September 15th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazilian Debt Greatest in Latin America.

  The 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are expected to end 2004 with a gross foreign debt of $776 billion, a report released by Dresdner Bank Lateinamerika said.