The biannual summit concluded without agreements regarding the much-proclaimed 10% reduction in the Common External Tariff.
The Paraguayan president, Mario Abdo Benítez, received the rotating presidency of Mercosur on Friday from the Brazilian leader, Jair Bolsonaro, and promised to “continue working” to “strengthen the values” of the bloc.
After a brief speech, Abdo Benítez also declared the telematic summit closed and in which the rulers of Argentina, Alberto Fernández; from Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, and Bolsonaro, whose government coordinated the meeting and thus concluded his biannual presidency of the bloc.
Abdo Benítez guaranteed that, during the next six months, his Government will strive to reduce bureaucratic obstacles in the bloc, in “opening the region’s strength to the world” and in “continuing to strengthen the values that unite us”, among which he mentioned “democracy” and “freedom”.
The biannual summit concluded without agreements regarding the much proclaimed 10% reduction in the Common External Tariff, which was almost agreed upon but was conditioned by Uruguay on Mercosur modifying the clause that prevents its members from negotiating trade agreements with other countries or blocs. individually.
In a bloc in which all decisions are made by consensus, this reduction was postponed by Uruguay’s position, which demands greater freedom to advance individual trade agreements, as it is already doing in fact with China.
In this sense, Abdo Benítez promised to give priority to the negotiations on the external tariff and affirmed that “the best way to defend interests is to work in a joint and coordinated manner.”
He also stressed that, during Paraguay’s pro tempore presidency, a “dynamic” and “proactive” agenda will be developed, which will include this process of tariff review.
“We have reached an important rapprochement of positions in recent months,” added the Paraguayan president, referring to these negotiations, now being hampered by Uruguay.
During the meeting, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay also pledged to enhance cooperation within Mercosur as a way to accelerate and improve the recovery of their economies once the coronavirus pandemic is overcome.
The commitment was reflected in a joint declaration adopted at the conclusion of the summit, in which two other annexed documents on defense cooperation and digital integration were also approved.
The statement on the pandemic acknowledges that the economies of the four countries have suffered “unprecedented shocks”, which have also been expressed “in all phases of life and human activities.”
While stressing that the impact was planetary, “it had differentiated effects” and “especially serious” in developing countries, which “require additional efforts to provide responses adapted to their structural particularities,” says the document.
In this framework, the declaration underlines the need, in the midst of a health crisis not yet overcome, to “safeguard” the “values” of Mercosur in terms of “democracy, openness to the world and integration”, which are “the bases for prosperity ”.
They also agreed that “the vaccination process” is an “essential part of the road to economic recovery and” the normalization of human activity in all its areas “, as well as stressed that” the vaccine applied to a person should not be an obstacle for their mobility and entry into other countries ”.
In the same way, they underlined “the priority of defending strong, inclusive and resilient national health systems, as well as fair and equitable access to diagnoses, treatments and immunizations”, in order to “strengthen global capacities for prevention, prompt and response to health emergencies ”.
That declaration and those relating to strengthening cooperation in the digital and defense areas were signed this Friday by the four presidents. (I)
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