The cities of Barra do Quaraí (Brazil), Bella Unión (Uruguay) and Monte Caseros (Argentina), on the triple border between the three countries, have as of this Monday the first Trinational Integration Committee of Mercosur, the regional bloc of which Paraguay is also a member.
The signing of a memorandum of understanding between the three countries on Monday (14.10.2019) in Brasilia gave rise to the Border Integration Committee, which includes these three cities, separated from each other by rivers and which have been dreaming for decades of more bridges to connect them and allow them to form a regional development hub.
The agreement will allow the foreign ministries to directly accompany and support, as far as possible, integration initiatives proposed or implemented by the authorities of the three municipalities.
The memorandum was signed at the headquarters of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, Ernesto Araújo, by the ambassador of Uruguay in Brazil, Gustavo Vanerio, and by the chargé d'affaires of the Argentine embassy in Brazil, Roberto Bosch.
The initiative responds to a demand from the three cities, which dream of implementing various integration measures that will allow them to connect and become a triple border as active as the one made up of Foz do Iguazú (Brazil), Ciudad del Este (Paraguay) and Puerto Iguazú (Argentina).
The triple border integration instrument "meets a long-standing demand from the inhabitants" of the three cities, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said in a message on its Twitter account.
"The act establishes the first Trinational Border Committee of Mercosur and aims to improve the transit of people, vehicles and goods, and to promote development and economic integration, while safeguarding issues such as security, health and the environment," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs added.
Last September, when the three cities announced their intention to form an integration space, they discussed projects to integrate in areas such as infrastructure, trade, border facilitation, civil defense, education, culture, environment, tourism and sports.
The region has about 20.000 inhabitants, most of them living in Bella Unión, the most developed of the three cities, and its economy is based on the cultivation of sugar cane.
Although Bella Unión and Barra do Quaraí have a bridge that connects them, transportation between the Uruguayan and Argentine cities still depends on boats.
Source: EFE
Was assassinated, on 14/10, memorandum of understanding on integration on the Brazil-Argentina-Uruguay border trip. The instrument responds to the long-standing demand of two inhabitants of Barra do Quaraí (Brazil), Monte Caseros (Argentina) and Bella Unión (Uruguai). pic.twitter.com/AyMXPl5erI
—Itamaraty Brazil?? (@ItamaratyGovBr) October 14, 2019
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