Mercosur

• Monday, May 19th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Successful Uruguayan debt exchange.

  Almost 90% of Uruguayan sovereign bond holders accepted the voluntary debt exchange proposed by Uruguayan authorities involving 5,393 billion US dollars. This means that 4,854 billion US dollars will be formally changed next May 29 with the documentation passing through the United States Securities and Exchange Committee.

• Monday, May 19th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  IMF, WTO and WB push for market access.

  The need to fully appreciate the value of liberalizing world trade, particularly in agriculture, is essential to allow trade negotiations to move forward again before the WTO ministerial conference in Cancún next September, was emphasized in a joint statement by the International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization and the World Bank.

• Monday, May 19th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Risk of deflation extends.

  For decades Keynesian and growth policies stimulated employment and domestic demand, but also inflation, until it became a kind of curse. Now, according to one of the latest papers of the International Monetary Fund, IMF, several countries, including Japan and Germany, face the risk of deflation.

• Monday, May 19th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  “A new Argentina is emerging”

  Elected Argentine president Nestor Kirchner, who takes office next May 25, anticipated he will struggle to recover the government's action capacity and “Argentines can count that I'm not going to be an employee of financial interests”.

• Friday, May 16th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentina thanks Uruguay.

  In a brief 24 hours visit to neighboring Uruguay, Argentine caretaker president Eduardo Duhalde who will be leaving office next May 25, thanked the Uruguayan government for all the support given to Argentina, “when we were a step away from the abyss”. Mr. Duhalde also admitted that the Argentine crisis had a negative influence for the Uruguayan economy, but now the “positive ripples” from Argentina will reflect in Uruguay.

• Friday, May 16th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Mercosur-EU discussions.

  The European Union and Mercosur will be exchanging this Friday the additional trade liberalization proposals that were requested following the last round of talks held in March.

• Friday, May 16th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Mercosur - US 4+1 talks.

  The presidents of Uruguay, Jorge Batlle and Argentina, Eduardo Duhalde coincided in the need of a stronger regional integration, starting with a reinvigorated Mercosur that could open the way for trade discussions with United States following the 4+1 model.

• Thursday, May 15th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Kirchner president and Menem appeals for unity.

  For the first time ever a Patagonian born is Argentina's next president. Santa Cruz province governor Nestor Kirchner will be taking office May 25 after former president Carlos Menem finally explained in a national broadcast at prime time why he has stepping down from the May 18 run off, but certainly not abandoning politics.

• Thursday, May 15th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Opposition is born.

  Promising a “constructive opposition”, Mr. Ricardo López Murphy who has emerged as the most important non Peronist figure in current Argentine politics, took advantage of the political vacuum created by Mr. Menem's long meditated decision to step down from the presidential run off and was extremely critical of the former president and caretaker president Eduardo Duhalde.

• Thursday, May 15th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil welcomes Kirchner as Argentina's next president.

  Brazil is pleased that Nestor Kirchner will be Argentina's next president and hopes that with him as leader, the two nations' bilateral “strategic alliance will advance considerably,” Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said here Thursday.