Foreign Minister Mondino admits Mercosur is “stalled” and claims an “adrenaline jolt”

Chancellor Diana Mondinoparticipated this Sunday along with his colleagues from the region Asunción, Paraguay, The plenary session of the Mercosur Common Market Council (CMC) considered that the economic group of countries “needs an adrenaline jolt.”

“We have one A critical look at the present state of MERCOSUR And we believe that its potential as an expanding market and platform for relations with the world is highly wasted. Mercosur needs a Adrenaline shock,” is what the official said during his speech. Mondino considered that the stagnation that regional trade has suffered in the “commercial dimension” is “indisputable”. To argue, he relied on figures: he explained it By 1998, 25% of the exports of the four State Parties were directed to Mercosur itself and, during the last 10 years (2013-2023), this number has averaged 12.5%; while in 2023, according to Mondino, these intra-zone sales will have decreased to only 11.3%.

Mondino expressed that “Argentina, led by President MileyDrive A New foreign economic policy, Strategically focused on freedom. Regarding the block, it confirmed Argentina’s membership and recognized the achievements of the integration process; among others, “has become the main destination for our external sales” and “the first step in the internationalization process of our companies, especially SMEs.”

In the same sense, the Chancellor Appreciate recent progress on a range of issues necessary to strengthen regional integration and the competitiveness of the partners’ economies. in Energy Substancereminded that “we are negotiating between the State Parties to be able to supply gas from the ‘Vaca Muerta’ to our industries and households. We have a successful experience of this in Mercosur Electricity trading and the construction of Common infrastructure;So we hope to replicate this model in gas exchange.”

Furthermore, the official acknowledged that “there is a high level of inertia in the bloc’s agenda, which moves slowly given the pace of global changes. Current stage of Mercosur is characterized by the ‘Management‘And the ‘administration’ of the various agreements and commitments was previously taken for granted, but we do not have the agility and capacity to project ourselves towards future issues. For example, it is enough to point out that a topic on the global agenda is outstanding and disruptive artificial intelligence (AI), is not addressed on any of our platforms nor is it part of our discussions.

in the matter of External RelationsThe Chancellor considered the decision “undeniable so far” Mercosur failed to give us access for large extra-region markets”and reminded that the bloc does not have a trade agreement with any country or group of countries that stimulates the international economy today – or will do so in the near future. “Added to this is that we have a ‘common external tariff’ that is relatively high by international standards and that, due to its high dispersion and exceptions, makes it difficult for our companies to operate,” he said and announced that, as was advanced in the field of Grupo Mercado Común, “Argentina will present general guidelines for a comprehensive review of the tariff in the next semester,” he explained.

Mondino pointed out that “our Mercosur has Capabilities and resources Suitable to meet the current and future needs of the most demanding markets: strategic natural resources, excellent human talent, high-quality food supply, valuable energy resources for the energy transition, industry with innovative potential, among others. We have to manage to develop this potential.”

Subsequently, the Argentine Chancellor highlighted that the national government has taken a large number of measures Normalize the country’s foreign trade and promoting the free import of goods and services from the bloc’s member countries. “This is a work in progress, slow and costly, which I have talked about bilaterally with all of you and which our technical teams are also reporting on within the Mercosur area.”

This “deregulated” path, he said, will deepen with the approval of the Bases Law, which “contains a large number of provisions that have a positive impact on commercial exchanges with our partners.”

In conclusion, the head of the San Martín Palace reiterated his intention to “promote, from within this Common Market Council, our responsibility as the political leadership of the integration process and, as we did from the Common Market Group, a ‘Updates’ Mercosur Institutional This facilitates its decision-making processes, while respecting its intergovernmental essence. This will help the bloc adapt to the challenges posed by the international landscape.”

Mondino also proposed to work on a new dimension of “aggiornamento”, linked to the external agenda of the block which considers the sequential application New ways of talkingAhead flexiblewith third countries or groups of countries, both in the region and the rest of the world, with a view to reaching an understanding on this occasion 30th anniversary of the signing of the Ouro Preto ProtocolNext December.

He reaffirmed that Argentina has no doubt that States Parties have given absolute priority to MERCOSUR External Agendain addition to ongoing negotiations with With the EU and EFTAWe must move forward on other negotiating fronts, for example with Latin American countries and countries and groups in other regions. El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Panama, Guatemala and Ecuador, Countries that together represent a market of 375 million people and a GDP of approximately US$500 billion.

Regarding other areas, he cited as an example the proposal for Indonesia signing a free trade agreement, which can also be done with Vietnam Noting that together they represent a market of 375 million people and a GDP of over US$1.7 trillion, he also pointed out Africa and for the countries of bay“We have just started talking United Arab Emirates And we want to have a dialogue with the rest of the countries in the region,” he concluded.