Argentina and Brazil coincided in the need to strengthen Mercosur's negotiation capacity and privilege the contents of the Americas Free Trade Association, AFTA, rather than the timetable for the ambitious United States initiative.
Newly appointed Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister Celso Lafer begins this Monday in Buenos Aires a crucial visit to Mercosur members, particularly to co-ordinate efforts for the coming April presidential summit in Quebec, Canada, the first of the Bush administration.
Mexico and Argentina under the new Republican White House spotlight, were analyzed by Wall Street experts in a recent New York Columbia University Forum.
Brazil's most important bank which has been operating in Uruguay since 1945 announced it will be leaving the country because of the low profitability of its Montevideo agency.
In spite of different scenarios and higher oil prices and interest rates, Mercosur overall consolidated inflation control during 2000, ensuring the long term decreasing tendency of retail prices.