President Hugo Chávez expects Venezuela will be fully incorporated to Mercosur before Brazilian president Lula da Silva steps down from office next January first. The two leaders met Wednesday in Brasilia and also agreed to strengthen Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).
Venezuela is an extremely important factor for the social and economic development of the region and Brazil will insist upon Paraguay on the need for the approval of Venezuela’s incorporation as full member of Mercosur, stressed Senator Romero Juca from the Brazilian ruling coalition.
Uruguay is currently harvesting what is considered a record crop of soybean the ever expanding oil seed that as in neighbouring countries is taking over land from other exploitations and has made Mercosur the world’s leading producer and exporter.
Brazilian opposition presidential candidate Jose Serra—who leads in public opinion vote intention polls—reiterated his call for a more “flexible” Mercosur, effectively becoming a free trade area, because the current format limits Brazil’s sovereignty to sign agreements with other non member countries.
Brazil’s leading presidential candidate Jose Serra described Mercosur as a “farce” and a “barrier” for Brazil to sign trade agreements with other countries.