The President of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benítez, affirmed on Wednesday that his country could not support any initiative that denaturalizes the essence of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur).
Abdo Benítez made such a comment when referring to the joint note presented today by the national coordinators of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, before the Mercosur Common Market Group, due to the “actions of the Uruguayan government with a view to the individual negotiation of trade agreements with a tariff dimension”.
On the same note, the three countries indicated that, given the possible presentation by Uruguay of a request for accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), they reserve the right to adopt the eventual measures they deem necessary to defend their interests in the legal and commercial sphere.
“Uruguay historically has this position because the great potential of that country is the port, and not only this President, but they have been looking for that for a long time, but it is a proposal that denaturalizes the essence of Mercosur which is the common market, then Paraguay will never be able to accompany this proposal”, stated the president.
On the other hand, the Paraguayan head of state announced that he would participate in the next Mercosur Summit to be held on December 5 and 6 in Montevideo, Uruguay, the country with the pro tempore presidency.