ISDS Case Map
Mercosur
The negotiation of a free trade agreement between MERCOSUR and the UE has
become, for Brazil, a greater priority than the trade liberalization
debates at the World Trade Organization (WTO)
Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva hailed his country's growing relations with Saudi Arabia and the Middle East on Sunday as he pushed for more trade and investment in the region.
In South America, serious pressure is building against the Israel-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement (FTA), threatening to derail it entirely. South American social movements, who have years of experience fighting against free trade, have integrated Palestine solidarity into their general work.
Spain and Argentina on Monday asked for a restart of trade talks between the South American Mercosur economic bloc and the European Union.
A leading number of Brazilian businessmen belonging to the country's powerful National Confederation of Industry, CNI, said it was time to sign a bilateral agreement with the European Union, which would leave out Mercosur
Mercosur presidential summit next week in Brazil has on the table an agenda of several highly sensitive issues that could deepen the rift between senior members Argentina and Brazil and junior members Paraguay and Uruguay, according to Uruguayan parliamentary sources.
Korea wants to offset the expected slowdown in growth next year by expanding free trade pacts with Russia and South America's Mercosur members, a government official said yesterday.
As was anticipated Mercosur senior members Argentina and Brazil proposed Friday an increase of the common external tariff, (AEC) for certain products, and as was expected junior members Uruguay and Paraguay rejected the idea.
MERCOSUR "is barely surviving or far from the expectations for which it was created," said Uruguayan Foreign Minister, Gonzalo Fernandez, in declarations today to the weekly magazine Busqueda.
President Lee Myung-bak called Tuesday for the launch of negotiations on a free trade agreement between South Korea and the Southern American Common Market, called MERCOSUR, involving Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil. In a separate interview with a Peruvian newspaper, Lee said he would declare the beginning of free trade negotiations with Peru.
