International bureaucrats are touring Central America offering up the ALADI as a means of doing business with South American countries, while the president of Argentina is preventing firms in her country from using ports in Uruguay.
Editorial
Our comments are the same as they were one year ago when Uruguayan diplomats toured the area in order to promote a free trade agreement with Mercosur; in terms of trade integration, South America is a bag of cats where what prevails is the will of two giants, Brazil and Argentina, with the aggravating circumstance that the current government of President Fernández de Kirchner, in the exact same manner as his deceased predecessor Néstor Kirchner, manages and controls Argentinian international trade by pandering to the needs of immediate populist policies, regardless of the agreements they have signed.
Services in Banking, finance, logistics, gourmet foods and beverages will be offered by Panamanian businessmen in Peru, on 15 September.
A trade mission will visit the country on 15th of September for business and institutional networking and to take advantage of the FTA between the two countries.
Eleconomista.net reports: "The resolution was adopted by the bloc's foreign ministers, meeting in the Common Market Council (CMC), which prepared the statement later to be signed by the presidents."
The inclination of Latin American governments when deciding which commercial block to join, is clearly marked by their ideological distinctions.
Editorial
While describing the launch of the Pacific Alliance as a "successful exercise in media diplomacy" in an analysis of the issue in his article in Lanacion.com.ar, Alejandro Rebossio highlights the features of this block and those of Mercosur, noting that in just one year of existence, the Pacific countries have achieved more in institutional and commercial integration, than the Atlantic block.
The entry of Venezuela to the South American block has consolidated its character as being driven more by domestic political considerations that modern commercial criteria.
"We need to get rid of this straight jacket, since we will not conclude any agreement while having Argentina and Venezuela as partners," said Roberto Giannetti, director of the Department of International Relations and Foreign Trade of the Federation of Industries of the State of Sao Paulo (Fiesp).
The pressing need for predictability in exports to Venezuela is inducing the Nicaragua principal business leader to ask for the country's entry to the chaotic South American bloc.
Statements by Nicaraguan businessmen to the effect that Nicaragua requires security in trade with Venezuela are often heard, for which they are advocating a trade agreement between the two countries.
The Pacific Alliance is now operating and producing results which are favorable to the development of the nations which compose it, and it is a natural environment for Central American countries to be integrated into.
Editorial
The very apt comparison made by analyst Andres Oppenheimer between the economic blocs Mercosur-Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela-, and the Pacific Alliance-Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru (soon to also include Costa Rica) - shows the major conceptual differences between one group and another, and the concrete results generated for the development of their people.
Europe wants a more ambitious agreement with Latin America to ensure the protection of investments in the region.
"The European Union would like to have "more ambitious" protection of foreign investment in Latin America as expressed in the last summit meeting with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), said the EU representative in Uruguay, the Spaniard Juan Fernández Trigo ", noted an article in Economía.elpaís.com.
The Foreign Minister of Uruguay is touring the isthmus proposing an FTA with Mercosur, even though the President of the very same country describes it as "a bad customs union".
EDITORIAL:
The Foreign Minister of Uruguay, Luis Almagro, is touring the Central American countries, saying that he is mandated by the countries of the southern block to propose to Central America, a free trade agreement with Mercosur. According to an article in Elsalvador.com the Uruguayan Foreign Minister said that "... in the first half of the year "it is expected that there will be 'technical meetings which will open the way for commercial negotiations between the two blocks."
Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay will apply the maximum tariffs on imports from outside Mercosur due to the crisis.
A statement from PROCOMER reads: Brazil will apply the maximum fee allowed by the World Trade Organization (WTO) to a list of one hundred products imported from outside MERCOSUR, this is measure is being implemented in order to protect their industry from the international crisis according to a decree issued on May 28 and, based on a MERCOSUR resolution of December 2011 which allows four members (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) to raise common external tariff for 24 months, the decision has been adopted as a way to mitigate trade imbalances resulting from international economics, leaving each country to decide to create their own list of tariffs to be increased.
The limitations imposed by its larger partners in Mercosur prevent Uruguay from progressing toward an FTA.
In this context, what was left was to sign a series of cooperation agreements in the areas of trade, postal services, education and technology.
Presidents Oscar Arias and Tabaré Vásquez announced the creation of a Uruguay-Costa Rica Chamber of Commerce "which will help expand trade between both nations."
The problematic attempts by the European Union to reach trade agreements with Mercosur and CAN are bad precedents.
The Association Agreement between Central America and Europe, interrupted in Honduras yesterday when the Nicaraguan negotiators left what was the seventh round of negotiations between the parties, adds itself as unfinished business to the others Europe is attempting to negotiate with the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR), comprised of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay and the Andean Community of Nations (CAN).
Countries in the region began discussions on Tuesday, part of a series of summits to create a shield against the global crisis.
The discussions at the beach resort of Costa do Sauipe, in the north of Brazil, began when host president, Luiz Lula da Silva, inaugurated the bi-annual summit of Mercosur, which was plagued by setbacks.
Leaders from throughout the region were also invited, including the president of Cuba, Raul Castro, who gave his colleagues a greeting from his brother, Fidel.
For the first time in history the leaders of Latin American and Caribbean countries will meet on their own to discuss integration.
The meeting, which will be held on December 16 & 17 at Costa de Sauipe, a resort close to the Brazilian city of Salvador de Bahia (in the northeast), will seek to promote greater cooperation between the various regional integration mechanisms.
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