Uruguay Wants Mexico in Mercosur to Counterbalance Brazil

Uruguay wants Mexico to join Mercosur so a "better internal balance" can be achieved, said President Tabare Vazquez in Mexico City.

During a joint press conference with Mexican President Vicente Fox, Mr. Vazquez also pointed out Uruguay will not support Washington’s proposal for a Free Trade Area of the Americas until the United States and Canada agree to end farm subsidies.

Vazquez said that Mercosur, currently in the process of integrating Venezuela, would be "a better and more balanced bloc" if it included Mexico, which already has a free-trade pact with Uruguay and specific sector agreements with Argentina and Brazil.

Uruguay seeks "a better Mercosur, not this one that doesn’t serve us; we would like to see a Mercosur that responds to the heterogeneous conditions of the different countries and to the objective of an integration that serves everyone", underlined Vazquez who nevertheless insisted that the regional bloc is a strategic priority for Uruguay.

Uruguay’s economy has suffered considerably from the turbulences of its "giant" Mercosur partners: in 1999 with the devaluation of the Brazilian currency and in 2001/02 with the melting of the Argentine economy.

"We believe that to achieve better internal balance in Mercosur we need the participation of countries like Mexico, and hence we are strongly supporting its entry," said the Uruguayan president.

Conservative president Fox said that Mexico "does not hide its great interest" in joining Mercosur. Indeed, he has said in the past that he would like to see his country accepted into the Southern Cone bloc this year, the last of his six-year term.

On the subject of the U.S.-promoted Free Trade Area of the Americas, FTAA, Vazquez was pessimistic, saying that his country will continue to stand with Argentina and Brazil in opposing the idea unless the rich countries give up their agricultural subsidies.

Fox, a great enthusiast for the FTAA, got into a heated spat over the proposed accord last year with Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, who accuses the U.S. of attempting "neo-colonialism" in Latin America.

Mercopress – www.mercopress.com

Tags:

You May Also Like

Brazil: Shame on You, O Globo, for Slander and Malice on Goldman Case

Dear O Globo Editors and Journalists, the article on the Sean Goldman case that ...

Brazil’s Perdigí£o Starts New Unit With and Eye to Europe Tables

Brazilian food company Perdigão is to begin operating a unit in BrasÀ­lia, Brazil’s capital ...

Brazil’s Leader in Kids Clothes Conquers Europe

Considered one of the greatest and most important garment industries in Brazil, Marisol, based ...

World Eats Chicken Again and Brazil Earns 52% More Exporting Poultry

The largest foreign market for Brazilian chicken continues to be the Middle East. The ...

Investments in Public Works Declined 30% in Brazil with Lula

Public works investments dropped nearly 30% between 2002 and 2003. Large cuts (13.7% in ...

Brazil’s Dictatorship: It All Started with a Referendum

The proposed division of the state of Pará in northern Brazil into three states ...

Brazil Prints a Primer After 3,000 Brazilians Are Barred from Entering Europe

Concerned with the embarrassing situations Brazilians may face when they arrive in Europe and ...

Brazilian exports

Brazil Exports Start Month with a Bang

In just one business day this month, which was Friday last week, Brazilian exports ...

Brazil’s Votorantim Gets Serious About IT

Votorantim Novos Negócios announces the launch of a new information technology company. The result ...

Despite Volume Fall Brazil’s Ironworks Industry on the Rise

Despite a worldwide reduction in the volume of mergers and acquisitions in the ironworks ...