Brazilian Foreign minister Antonio Patriota confirmed on Thursday that Paraguay’s suspension from Mercosur will be in the agenda of the coming presidential summit, next 12 July in Montevideo.
The Union of South American Nations, Unasur expects Paraguayan president-elect Horacio Cartes to attend the next summit of the block in August in Suriname, said Salomon Lerner head of the Unasur electoral observers’ mission, who previously delivered a very positive report on last April’s presidential election.
In a strong display of support for Paraguayan president-elect Horacio Cartes, European Union ambassadors confirmed the leader will be travelling next week to Brussels, seat of the EU in what will be his first contacts out of the region.
Mercosur needs suspended Paraguay to return to the group because it has ‘to clean its image’ and because its international standing has fallen quite seriously, said a former Paraguayan ambassador suggesting Asuncion should not rush, since the initiative must come from Mercosur.
Paraguay president-elect Horacio Cartes ratified he will not be attending the coming Mercosur summit scheduled to take place July 12 in Montevideo, confirmed one of his foreign policy advisors since the Paraguayan position remains that “Venezuela is not a full member of Mercosur because the Paraguayan congress by overwhelming majority rejected such option in August 2012”.
Venezuela “is not part of Mercosur, it was not ratified by the Paraguayan congress” according to one of the main foreign policy advisors of president elect Horacio Cartes who is scheduled to take office next August 15. Meanwhile Paraguay continues to advance it its intention of belonging to the Alliance of the Pacific.
Technical groups from Paraguay and Mexico advanced on Wednesday talks for the creation of an Economic complementation Accord in the framework of the Latam Integration Association, ALADI, which is considered the “step previous to a full free trade treaty”, reported from Asuncion Paraguay’s foreign ministry.
The next Mercosur summit scheduled for the end of June in Montevideo has been delayed until 12 July, announced Uruguayan Foreign minister Luis Almagro. The new date was agreed by Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela earlier this week.
Soybeans, electricity and beef figure as the main export items of landlocked Paraguay, during the first five months of the year. According to a release from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, exports at the end of May reached 4,12bn dollars compared to 2.96bn a year ago, which represents a 57.3% increase.
Paraguay will host the next Organization of American States, OAS, General Assembly scheduled for June 3 to 5 of 2014 in Asuncion. The decision by acclamation was taken on Thursday at the end of this year’s event in Guatemala.