Mercosur

• Tuesday, June 17th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  “We're closer to Rio than to Paris”

  Argentine Foreign Affairs Secretary Rafael Bielsa debut in the United Nations proved an excellent opportunity to have a closer insight of President Nestor Kirchner administration's objectives in foreign policy, particularly the new “strategic alliance” with Brazil.

• Monday, June 16th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Mercosur presidential summit.

  Asunción, the capital of Paraguay that currently holds the chair of Mercosur will be hosting a presidential summit this Wednesday to which Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has also been invited.

• Monday, June 16th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Reforms expected from Argentina.

  Even when prospects for a long term agreement (three years) between Argentina and the International Monetary Fund, IMF, with blessings from the United States government, are encouraging the country still must comply with an agenda of “absolutely imperative structural reforms”.

• Friday, June 13th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  IMF Director to Meet Argentine President.

  The head of the International Monetary Fund will visit Argentina to get acquainted with its new president later this month as a prelude to negotiations over new loans.
  
  IMF Managing Director Horst Koehler will be in Buenos Aires on June 23-24 for meetings with newly installed Argentine President Nestor Kirchner.

• Thursday, June 12th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Regional Parliament and expansion.

  Argentine and Brazilian presidents Nestor Kirchner and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced this Wednesday in Brasilia the creation of a Mercosur Parliament and the expansion of regional integration to include the Andean countries, particularly Peru.

• Wednesday, June 11th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Kirchner receives Powell and visits Lula.

  Unites States Secretary of State Colin Powell in a brief visit to Buenos Aires (two and a half hours) met Tuesday morning with Argentine President Néstor Kirchner and described the event as an “encounter of friends”.

• Wednesday, June 11th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Uruguay, “50 years behind”.

  The European Commission delegate in Montevideo highlighted that a successful market access means satisfying European consumers and not insisting with the same fixed supply of goods of the last half century.

• Tuesday, June 10th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Powell and Chile's Lagos get past Iraq tiff

  Chilean President Ricardo Lagos and U.S.Secretary of State Colin Powell met in Santiago on Monday and managed to look past their differences over the war in Iraq.

• Tuesday, June 10th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Powell Heads for Talks in Argentina.

  Secretary of State Colin Powell is on a goodwill mission to Argentina, ready to offer friendship to newly installed President Nestor Kirchner and hoping to put U.S.-Argentine relations on a sounder footing.

• Tuesday, June 10th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Breaking News.

  Headlines:
  Consequences of the US-Chile free trade agreement; VAT increase to compensate tariff losses;
  Euro interests cut to 2%; Highest US unemployment in nine years.