Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo acknowledged on Wednesday (20.3.2019) that he did not consult Argentina, its main partner in Mercosur, before the agreement between Presidents Jair Bolsonaro and Donald Trump to grant it a quota of 750.000 tons of US wheat without tariffs, but he said he is willing to discuss the matter.
"There is a very good atmosphere with Argentina to discuss this issue, along with our concerns such as access to Brazilian sugar, which we have been trying to place in Mercosur since 1991. This could be an opportunity to discuss these issues.", Araújo responded at a press conference.
The minister was asked about Argentina's concern, the main supplier of wheat to Brazil, about the agreement that emerged during Bolsonaro's visit to the White House, to give it a quota without the mandatory 10% extra-Mercosur tariff on US wheat.
The minister said he did not discuss this issue with Argentina but recalled that "the modernization of Mercosur has been discussed."
During the press conference, the foreign minister reviewed Bolsonaro's visit to the United States, which will be followed by a tour of Chile and Israel.
Bolsonaro was the first president since 1994 not to visit any of the Mercosur countries on his first trip and, according to his foreign minister, "currently the Brazilian government has convergence of concepts with Chile, in addition to reciprocal economic interests."
Araújo said that Bolsonaro's trip to Chile, where he will go for the launch of the Prosur group and a bilateral visit, "marks an excellent moment in relations" with the trans-Andean country.
The Brazilian foreign minister confirmed that Brazil has chosen Chile as a Pacific bridge for the bioceanic corridor project, which envisages the construction of roads and railways linking its ports of Santos, the largest in Latin America, and those of Paranaguá, Río Grande and Itajaí, in the south of the country.
He stressed that the new organization will be "lighter than Unasur, which had an ideological profile and no longer exists because it failed, it was unable to build a kilometer of highways."
Taking stock of Bolsonaro's visit to Trump, Foreign Minister Araújo said that "Brazil needed to adhere to the Western instruments" to which it was summoned by the United States, such as having a privileged link with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Brazil agreed to reduce its advantageous position in the World Trade Organization to allow the United States to open the door to the OECD or "rich people's club," for which it must have management and economic opening goals, which will give it a higher status to receive investments.
Trump offered to work to make Brazil, the second largest economy in America, an extra-NATO ally or "a permanent member."
Source: Telam
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