RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The president of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benitez, opened the first virtual summit of Mercosur presidents and party states on Thursday, due to the coronavirus pandemic. On that day, Paraguay handed over the bloc’s pro-tempore presidency to Uruguay.
“For Paraguay, Mercosur is the cornerstone of its foreign policy and the best solution to the challenges is greater and better integration,” said the president in his speech at the start of the summit.
Uruguay’s Luis Lacalle Pou, the country’s head of state who took over the six-month pro-tempore presidency of Mercosur, said, “Protectionism may be a temptation for some countries, particularly the larger ones. Mercosur has a duty to finish what it has begun. We must sign the trade agreement with the European Union. The Pro-Tempore Presidency will commit to its signing,” he pledged.
“Mercosur cannot stand on the sidelines in such a fast-paced world. I think it has made progress. In different stages and at different times with different speeds. We must not be ‘mercopessimists’ or ‘mercoptimists’. We have to be ‘mercorealists’,” he added.
He then stressed: “We must be sincere in our relations with our states. This sincerity must be achieved first inside our borders,” and he stressed the need to “work hard on the free trade zone, consolidate the national processing of our products and improve the customs union.”
The presidents of Argentina, Alberto Fernández; Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro; Bolivia, Jeanine Áñez; Chile, Sebastián Piñera; and Colombia, Iván Duque, also took part in the meeting, the last three as observers as their countries are not members of Mercosur.
“Mercosur requires that we have a common goal as the Great Homeland, which was the wish of our heroes,” said Alberto Fernández. “The challenge we have is to end inequality among our peoples,” he said.
“The differences that may arise, ideological or conceptual, are secondary when it comes to understanding that it is the peoples that are connected over and above the governments,” he emphasized, urging the establishment of unity in Latin America to face the challenges that will come in the COVID-19 post-pandemic period.
For his part, Jair Bolsonaro remarked: “Mercosur is the main vehicle for our positioning in the world. It is part of the solutions we are building for the future.”
The Brazilian President made no mention of Fernández, who preceded his talk in the videoconference. He stressed that during the pandemic, Mercosur continued to operate and appealed to all presidents to advance in negotiations for free trade agreements with different countries such as Canada, Lebanon, Singapore, and South Korea. The advanced negotiations with these last two countries were objected to by Argentina, given the potential inequalities in economic and commercial terms.
Bolsonaro also called for a “necessary internal restructuring” of Mercosur to achieve the internal tariff system for the automobile, and the sugar industries.
Positive balance of Paraguay’s Pro-Tempore Presidency
Amidst the challenge caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and despite the restrictions it imposed, Paraguay stressed that Mercosur held over 150 virtual meetings during this semester and achieved the approval of over 50 regulations that will help reinforce regional integration.
Ambassador Didier Olmedo, Paraguay’s vice-chancellor and national coordinator of the Common Market Group (GMC), delivered a report within the framework of the LVI Regular Meeting of the Common Market Council (CMC), which was held by videoconference and chaired by Foreign Minister Antonio Rivas Palacios.
“At the outset of the pro-tempore presidency we have set a number of priorities, with the aim of pursuing the work that Mercosur has been developing over the years, and we are also seeking to expedite new issues on the bloc’s agenda,” he said.
“The greatest challenge we faced, without a doubt, was and continues to be the COVID-19 pandemic. And, in this context, many of the planned activities needed to be rescheduled, rethought and even adjusted in the case of the decision-making bodies, in order to be able to hold the meetings scheduled for the six-month period,” he stressed.
Among the achievements, the Paraguayan officials stressed:
– Coordination of monitoring measures, active surveillance and easing the return of the bloc’s citizens and residents to their places of origin or residence.
– Approval of Decision CMC N° 01/2020, which, through FOCEM, extends additional funds (US$ 16 million) to the “Research, Education and Biotechnology applied to Health” project, in order for the four countries’ national authorities to contribute to the fight against COVID-19 by improving national capacity to conduct virus detection tests.
– Important progress in the agreements with the European Union and with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in terms of legal review as well as the conclusion of final technical details for early subscription.
– Important progress in the ongoing negotiations with Canada, Korea, Singapore and Lebanon.
– At the regional level, talks intensified with the Pacific Alliance for the implementation of the Puerto Vallarta Action Plan.
– Progress in the discussion of elements for the adjustment of the automotive sector to the Mercosur customs union.
– Holding of the Ad Hoc Group Sugar Sector Meeting, after 19 years of inactivity, with a productive exchange of information among the States members in order to have a preliminary diagnosis, with a view to promoting technical cooperation and reinforcing the sector’s competitiveness.
– Progress in the negotiations of the Mercosur E-Commerce Protocol, which aims at developing electronic commerce in a predictable, transparent, and inclusive form, enabling good regulatory coverage in the member states.
– Extension of the Ad Hoc Group’s mandate to examine the consistency and dispersion of the Common External Tariff until the end of Uruguay’s pro-tempore presidency.
Source: infobae