Toward a consolidation of the MERCOSUR bloc
ASUNCION.- The 24th Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) Summit held in the capital of Paraguay on Wednesday ended with a clear message for strengthening regional integration and particularly that of South America.
According to PL, Presidents Luis González Macchi (Paraguay), Néstor Kirchner (Argentina), Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Brazil) and Jorge Batlle (Uruguay) were present at the meeting, together with Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada (Bolivia) and Ricardo Lagos (Chile) as associate members, and Hugo Chávez (Venezuela) as a special guest.
The AP news agency noted that the full members (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay) signed a joint communiqué reaffirming their commitment to developing the bloc with the aim of assuring sustainable development for those countries and competitive insertion in the world economy.
The leaders also signed a second document of a general nature with Presidents Ricardo Lagos and Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada.
Both documents ratify adherence to the United Nations and peaceful solutions to conflict, while the signatories committed themselves to combating terrorism within the framework of international law and respect for human rights, as well as to tackle the problem of drug trafficking.
At the same time ANSA reports that the bloc presidents agreed to meet again within 60 days for further discussions on issues linked to integration and to advance a medium-term program comprising an agenda known as Objective 2006, the creation of a parliament and a bloc monetary institution.
The statement indicates the need to “prioritize the bloc’s social dimension” so as to promote development and highlights the urgency of “eradicating child labor, facilitating the circulation of workers and including the theme of employment as an objective of the integration agenda. The heads of state also agreed to go more deeply into issues such as security, education, work, health and defense.
Reuters notes that it gives priority to integration and not to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) being imposed by the United States. In that context, Kirchner informed the agency: “first of all we should consolidate MERCOSUR and then see what international prospects open up.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva agreed with his Argentine colleague in giving top priority to the South America and announced that he is to meet with his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush in Washington this Friday with that premise in mind.
The EFE news agency reports that the bloc’s document emphasizes “the need for agricultural aspects, particularly those linked to subsidies that are distorting trade, to be included in FTAA discussions as well as within the World Trade Organization.”
The tone of the speeches made by those leaders at the session, which lasted three hours, was not uniform and varied according to speakers’ positions, but there was a general spirit to strengthen the bloc.
For Argentine Kirchner, for example, the basic issue for now is to continue defining a joint economic policy by creating a monetary institution and extending the number of bloc members.
Nicanor Duarte, the president-elect of Paraguay, who takes office on August 15, criticized the current globalization by defining it as a narcissistic neoliberal enclave scorning human values. The future Paraguayan president proposed a vindication of a culture of solidarity and called for a more political MERCOSUR rather than one that is confined to tariff activities.
Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan president, was one of the last to speak at the meeting, where he reiterated that the key to the solution of the poverty and destitution of the Latin American and Caribbean peoples is in the endogenous model of growth and not in negotiations with the developed world.
In a speech highly critical of neoliberalism, the Venezuelan leader advised that it is not necessary to believe in the developed world and that the restrictive policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had to be rejected. “We need to shake off the phantoms of neoliberalism,” he affirmed.