Uruguay decided not to sign the final declaration of the LXII summit of the mercosurwhich takes place in the Argentine city of Puerto Iguazú, for which it issued its own statement, with a series of differences regarding what was approved by Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.
It is that the joint declaration between the members of Mercosur includes concepts that President Luis Lacalle Pou and the foreign minister periodically refer to Francisco Bustillo as easing and modernizationbut it does not advance specifically in either of the two items, as questioned by the Executive.
Among the main points of the Uruguayan declaration, the government “renewed its commitment to the strengthening democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights”, while he highlighted “the importance of the bloc’s economic, commercial, social and cultural agenda for the benefit of its citizens.”
In a statement, he reiterated the need to “modernize the block, including the formation of the free trade zone and the review of international insertion instruments with a pragmatic and flexible approach”. The administration headed by Lacalle Pou considered that this is the way “to face the challenges of a world scenario in transformation, affected by significant alterations in the map of production and employment, with visible effects in the reconfiguration of global value chains”.
In this context, he stressed the need to “work to shape the bloc’s free trade zone, where different types of difficulties for trade and integration are still observed”.
He questioned the lack of a Common External Tariff and other restrictions
Specifically, he regretted that Mercosur failed to establish a Common External Tariff, “bearing in mind that the States Parties apply different national tariffs in their extra-zone trade, which shows the need to continue working in favor of establish a free trade zone.
In turn, he stressed the negative effect of the non-tariff restrictions in the bloc and assured that “the elimination of this type of restrictions contributes to the consolidation and improvement of the free trade zone.”
Within this framework, the Executive recalled the presentation by Uruguay of a draft Decision that seeks “the removal of all restrictions on all partners within one year.”
Bustillo had already demanded changes in Mercosur
The meeting of heads of state began at noon and took place one day after the strong claim made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs within the framework of the LXII Ordinary Meeting of the Mercosur Common Market Council, while the agreement with the European Union continues without progress.
Yesterday, Bustillo insisted that “Mercosur has not been able to consolidate within its internal policies that make it possible to substantially increase commercial ties between partners and it has been, at the same time, left out of important commercial negotiations that take place in the international arena”.
“In front of those who have exhibited the common external tariff as the milestone on which they settle the desire to imagine a customs union, we remind them that there are three national tariffs today”, said Bustillo. “In an activity so affected by acronyms, perhaps we should talk about Zocosur, rather than Mercosur, this is a common area of the south,” he stressed.
Last night, when leaving for Argentina, President Lacalle Pou assured that “Mercosur has to change”. “We insist: make Mercosur more flexible and strengthen our ties with other blocs or with other countries. As a block or unilaterally. We have said it since we had to take office, ”he added.
Source: Ambito
