President Luis Lacalle Pou will participate in a new summit of Mercosur presidents this Tuesday morning in Puerto Iguazú, Argentina.
Together with Lacalle, the Argentine president will be present Alberto Fernandez and their peers Mario Abdofrom Paraguay, and the Brazilian Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvawho will receive the pro tempore presidency of the bloc from Fernández.
On this occasion, the session of the heads of state It will not be broadcast on any official channelunlike the previous summit held in Uruguay in December 2022.
Only the opening of the plenary will be broadcastthrough the YouTube channels of the Casa Rosada and the Argentine Foreign Ministry.
The session will begin at 10:00 a.m. and end at 1:00 p.m. Then the official photo between the presidents and at 13:30 a buffet lunch.
The first day: meeting of foreign ministers with flexibility on the table
This Monday, on the first day of the summit, the foreign ministers of the member and associate countries metwith the participation of the Minister Francisco Bustillo.
The Uruguayan foreign minister, who traveled to Argentina with Lacalle Pou, focused his participation on the feasing of the bloc and trade between countries of the group.
“As we have repeatedly said, for Uruguay it is always better to be accompanied at any trading table in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. Without prejudice of which, The only thing that we are not going to allow ourselves is immobility”Bustillo said.
In addition, in a press conference after the event, he stated that “without any doubt” Uruguay will have to consider at “some moment” the possibility of reform its presence in Mercosur.
“Either to modify the founding treaty itself, or eventually consider the possibility (…) of becoming an associated State”he expressed.
His Argentine counterpart, santiago cafierofocused on the need for advance in the agreement between the European Union and Mercosur, one of the central points of the summit.
For the Argentine minister, the latest text of the agreement between the two blocs, finalized in 2019, “it reflects an unequal effort between asymmetric blocks and does not respond to the current international scenario”so you think that for that “The agreement has good results for both parties, it is necessary to work and update the 2019 texts.”
