Brasilia, May 3 (Prensa Latina) Brazilian Foreign Minister Carlos França will make a brief visit to Uruguay starting today, where he will discuss the modernization of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) with his Uruguayan counterpart Francisco Bustillo.
Official sources indicated that França will also discuss other issues on the bilateral and regional agenda in Montevideo.
Such modernization was raised at the bloc’s most recent bi-annual summit, held virtually in December, chaired by Brazil.
The extension implies, among other things, a reduction in Mercosur’s Common External Tariff (AEC), which was not specified due to Uruguay’s resistance.
So far, Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou has made his country’s support for the tariff cut conditional on a variation of a market clause that makes it impossible for members of the alliance to individually negotiate trade deals with other countries or blocs.
The President explained on the occasion that Uruguay is not satisfied with its interests in Mercosur and is individually heading towards a trade agreement with China, which it has been negotiating since the beginning of 2021.
Modernization of the bloc was Brazil’s goal when it held the bloc’s pro tempore presidency.
The change would be conditional on the CET proposed by Economy Minister Paulo Guedes being lowered for all products and made more flexible to allow members to conduct independent trade negotiations.
Guedes proposed a 10 percent horizontal readjustment of interest rates from 2021 and another 10 this year.
The AEC was established in 1995 as a condition for deepening the integration process between the Mercosur countries. It is a uniform import tax for products from outside the Union.
The intergovernmental organization was founded on March 26, 1991 with the signing of the so-called Treaty of Asunción by the governments of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
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