Today, Wednesday the 20th and this Thursday the 22nd of July, the 60th Ordinary Meeting of the Common Market Council y Summit of Presidents of Mercosur and Associated States, according to the Paraguayan Foreign Ministry in charge of coordinating the Pro Tempore Presidency of the bloc.
The semi-annual meeting has, so far, the presence of: Heads of State Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Suriname and the Prime Minister of Guyana, plus the Paraguayan host, Mario Abdo Benítez. Meanwhile, the President of Brazil announced that he will not participate.
Delegations are expected to discuss important issues Topics of regional interest, explained Foreign Minister Julio César Arriola, as quoted by IP Agency. He mentioned the threat of transnational crime, logistics integration and free trade agreements with other blocs. The common external tariff, the regime of origin, the second stage of the Fund for Structural Convergence and external relations will also be discussed, said the Foreign Minister. He explained that they are about to conclude negotiations for a free trade agreement with Singapore, “with which we will be able to expand the commercial horizon of Mercosur with Southeast Asia,” he added.
Arriola said that issues related to investment in infrastructure works for regional integration, through concrete physical infrastructure, and the creation of a working subgroup for this topic, which he considered to be of “fundamental importance,” are also included.
The agenda
Deliberations will begin this Wednesday 20th. In the morning hours, first of all, the Meeting of Ministers of Economy and Presidents of Central Banks of Mercosur and Associated States, which will take place at the Bourbon Hotel. The meeting will be chaired by the Ministers of Finance and the Central Bank of Paraguay.
On the same day, starting at 10:00 a.m., the Ordinary Meeting of the Mercosur Common Market Council (CMC)), headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay, Ambassador Julio César Arriola Ramírez.
This meeting will have two sessions; Firstly, in the morning there will be a meeting with the States Parties of Mercosur, and in the afternoon, the second session of the Ordinary Meeting of the Common Market Council of Mercosur (CMC) will be chaired again by Ambassador Arriola and will be attended by the National Coordinators of the Common Market Group (GMC), the National Coordinators of the Forum for Consultations and Political Coordination (FCCP) of Mercosur and Associated States and technical delegations and special guests.
The agenda ends on 21 Thursday, With the Plenary Session of the Presidents of the Mercosur Statesr, Associated States and special guests, on which occasion the Report of the Pro Tempore Presidency will be presented and the Paraguayan President will hand over the Pro Tempore Presidency to his Uruguayan counterpart in the presence of the other heads of State.Statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay) (IP Agency News)
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