Brazil's president has picked as his new foreign minister a man who has sharply criticized U.S. President Donald Trump. President Michel Temer named Sen. Aloysio Nunes to the post Thursday to replace Jose Serra. Serra resigned last week for medical reasons. The appointment doesn't require congressional approval. Both Nunes and Serra belong to the center PSDB party, senior member of the ruling coalition.
Brazil and Argentina foreign ministers agreed on Thursday in Brasilia that Mercosur must open to the world and expand its trade horizons, but it will have to be done without Venezuela which has been currently ceased from the block. Jose Serra and Susana Malcorra coincided that Mercosur must speed the trade agreement with the European Union taking advantage of the fact US elected-president Donald Trump has pledged to limit such treaties.
Brazil's current foreign minister Jose Serra name has emerged in the Petrobras investigation of companies, politicians and company's unfaithful officials. The construction group Odebrecht provided two names to the Lava Jato (Car Wash) investigation as being those who carried out operations that transferred R$ 23 million (US$ 7.3 million) from the construction company to the 2010 presidential campaign of Jose Serra, in off-the-books transactions.
Argentine president Mauricio Macri will be receiving his Brazilian peer Michel Temer in Buenos Aires on Monday morning to address bilateral relations in several fields, mainly political, trade, Mercosur, and security and development in the long shared border areas. According to official sources Temer´s delegation arrives with foreign minister Jose Serra, Industry and trade minister Marcos Pereira and head of defense Raul Jungmann.
Twenty days after being confirmed as Brazil’s new president, Michel Temer will deliver his first international speech at the UN´s General Assembly on Tuesday. He is not expected to mention recent political changes in Brazil, and focus rather on new opportunities for foreign investors.
Argentina considers that Uruguay created a vacuum in Mercosur when it unilaterally adopted the decision to devolve the block's presidency, and creating an unprecedented situation. Since then Mercosur has been involved in a serious controversy over the transfer of the presidency to Venezuela, which has strongly discredited the South American block.
Uruguay back stepped on its statements referred to Brazil's “bullying with the Mercosur presidency” and admits there was a misunderstanding regarding Brazil's invitation for a joint trade promotion in third countries, according to an official clarification Wednesday release from the Uruguayan foreign ministry.
Brazil summoned Uruguay's ambassador on Tuesday after the neighboring country's foreign minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa accused Brazil of trying to buy its vote to block Venezuela from taking the rotating presidency of the Mercosur trade bloc.
Uruguay's Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa said on Monday that he was opposed to the proposal that the Mercosur presidency should be held collectively, as a number of countries are opposed to Venezuela taking over the role. The proposal has been sponsored by Paraguay and Brazil for several weeks, particularly Brazil's Foreign Minister Jose Serra.
Mercosur founding members coordinators who met in Montevideo on Thursday to address the controversy over the presidency of the group and the self proclamation to the post by Venezuela, did finally reach some conclusions, but the most significant seems to be that they continue to disagree on the steps to follow and are prepared for another round of talks.