The Chancellor Diana Mondino participated this Sunday in Asunción in the plenary session of the meeting of foreign ministers of the Mercosur; which includes Argentina along with Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia; and He said that they need an “adrenaline shock” to advance trade within this regional bloc.
This regional bloc emerged 33 years ago and has its origins in the agreements led by then presidents Raúl Alfonsin and José Sarney in the mid-1980s, which led to the signing of the Treaty of Asunción in 1991. Since its creation, its main objective has been to guarantee a common space for commercial opportunities.
Among its main marketable products during 2021, the following stood out: electric energy (8%), soybeans excluded for sowing (7%), and vehicles for the transport of goods with piston engines (6%).
Milei’s snub to Mercosur
Mondino attended in place of Javier Milei, who decided not to participate in the meeting with his Mercosur counterparts in favor of a private meeting with Bolsonaro in Brazil.
During his speech, he invited everyone to move “towards freedom” and stressed that Argentina is in the process of promoting a more active foreign economic policy.
He explained the same thing: “With regard to Mercosur, we reaffirm our membership in the bloc, of which there has never been and will never be any doubt” and he celebrated that this mechanism is the main destination for the country’s external sales and the “first step” for the internationalization of its companies.
He also pointed out that Mercosur has “enormous potential as an expanded market and platform for relations with the world,” but that this potential is not being exploited and declared: “I think Mercosur needs, I don’t know, an adrenaline rush.”
He also said that the bloc’s stagnation over the past ten years was undeniable and complained about tariff and para-tariff barriers “among ourselves.”
Mercosur criticism
Mondino criticised the fact that the bloc has not been able to facilitate access to large markets outside the zone, does not have trade agreements with countries that energise the international scene and described the high common external tariff as “gross”.
He also called attention to the bloc’s “high degree of inertia,” adding, “It’s not that it’s not moving forward, but the world is moving faster.”
In this context, he requested to explore agreements with Vietnam, Indonesia and African countries, for which he proposed evaluating bilateral agreements and greater flexibility in negotiations: “We have only one path to achieve a more agile and more modern Mercosur and that is to make decisions that are not harsh, they are not brave decisions, they are decisions of common sense,” defended Mondino.
Source: Ambito
