The Presidents of Ecuador and Uruguay, Guillermo Lasso and Luis Lacalle Pou, Tuesday discussed a possible bilateral agreement within the Latin American Integration Association (Aladi).
Argentina's Ambassador to Mercosur Mariano Kestelboim Sunday said he favoured “a new common external tariff that promotes productive development.”
Brazil is the only country that in the last ten years has benefited from Mercosur with an intra-zone trade surplus of 36.8 billion dollars while the other three full members, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay have accumulated huge deficits in the same period, according to Argentine economist Orlando Ferreres a regular columnist from La Nacion with graduate studies in Harvard.
Mercosur signed a free trade agreement with the Palestinian Authority on Tuesday, the first between the territories and a block of nations outside the Arab world. The ceremony took place during Mercosur presidential summit in Montevideo.
Trade among ALADI, Latin American Integration Association, which includes all the hemisphere countries with the exception of a few from Central America and the Caribbean, is expected to reach a historic record in 2011 close to 160 billion dollars, ahead of the 2008 record with 146 billion dollars.
Unasur Economy ministers and Central Bank presidents will meet Friday to agree on measures to help the region address the impact of the global crisis. The meeting takes place in Buenos Aires hosted by Argentine Economy minister and Vice-president elect Amado Boudou.
Argentina, Brazil and Mexico meeting in Uruguay ahead of the G-20 summit in France next November, agreed to demand a greater role for the region in global affairs and in helping to resolve the global economic crisis.
Latin American countries will be meeting in Uruguay in two weeks time to define a common stance on the international crisis for the coming G20 summit that will be taking place early November in France.
Mercosur and Mexico signed an agreement which virtually liberates all bilateral auto industry trade and opens prospects for joint undertakings world wide. The event took place in Montevideo, administrative capital of Mercosur.
Union of South American Nations, Unasur, Foreign Affairs ministers agreed Wednesday in Buenos Aires to increase economic coordination and send monitoring missions to regional elections but could not reach a common position on the Libyan situation.