An “entertaining” Mercosur summit, at least that will be the tone in which the host country and protempore president, Uruguay, expects the next regional meeting to be held in Montevideo this Monday and Tuesday and in which firm positions are expected from the member countries.
The presence of the Argentine president, Alberto Fernández, along with his Paraguayan counterpart, Mario Abdo Bénitez, the host Luis Lacalle Pou, and for Brazil will be attended by his vice president, Hamilton Mourao, who will represent the President Jair Bolsonaro.
Undoubtedly, the summit will revolve around the recent warning that Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay made to Uruguay after learning that this country formally requested its adherence to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
In this sense, the Uruguayan president affirmed this week that said warning will not stop his country’s intentions to reach agreements outside the bloc.
“We are going to do it, we feel fully entitled to do it, as well as we understand even if we do not share the claim of the three countries. (The summit) is going to be entertaining and we are going to talk about these issues because international law assists us” , indicated the Uruguayan president last Wednesday.
The three countries warned that “they reserve the right to adopt any measures they deem necessary to defend their interests in the legal and commercial fields” in the event that Uruguay continues with individual negotiations.
Uruguay’s partners explained their position regarding “the measures of the Uruguayan Government aimed at the individual negotiation of trade agreements with tariff dimensions” and regarding the partner’s intention to present a petition for CPTPP membership.
In this context, the president of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benítez, said that Uruguay’s intention to negotiate a free trade agreement outside the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), “disnaturalizes” the “essence” of the South American bloc.
“Obviously it denatures the essence of Mercosur, which is the common market,” declared the Paraguayan president.
The free trade area that Uruguay asked to join in the last few hours has Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam as partners.
Thus, the Uruguayan capital is preparing to host a summit in which everything seems to indicate that Uruguay will maintain its position regarding this request as well as a possible Free Trade Agreement with China that has also brought disagreements between the members of the regional block.
The summit is expected to begin on Monday with a working breakfast for ministers of the Economy of the States Parties and Bolivia.
Subsequently, the foreign ministers of the member and associated states will hold the meeting prior to the meeting of presidents on Tuesday.
