For Jorge Faurie, Mercosur began under the name of "chemical engineering and ended in cutting and making"

While all of Argentina's politics is centered on elections, the country's international commitments are still valid and key meetings will be held in the coming weeks to define issues that will have a significant impact on the economy. In a dialogue with the press organized by the Argentine Council of International Relations (CARI), the Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie predicted that President Mauricio Macri would seek to contribute to an international consensus at the upcoming G20 summit in Osaka, Japan. June 28th and 29th. He also said that the next meeting of Mercosur to be held in Santa Fe, under the Argentine presidency in mid-July, will aim to simplify the block. On the negotiations with the European Union was optimistic, but warned that you do not have to set dates and that the ratification process will be long.

-What is the expectation of the conclusion of the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union? Is there a definite date?

– The wait is great, but I'm not a friend of the dates. I have said it many times. The date sometimes has a deterrent effect. It's like the boyfriend who makes the appointment and who is scared …

Jorge Faurie: "The only thing that interests me is to make things to the Argentineans"

– What title will leave the next Mercosur summit in Santa Fe?

– The simplification of Mercosur will undoubtedly be the title. The goal is to make it more competitive. The same thing always happens to us: the initial goal of Mercosur was the economic and commercial integration; As the process caused difficulties and costs to make the adjustments, we began to talk about other factors, also positive, such as the social integration of Mercosur citizens. They sent us to study chemical engineering and they went out to get dressed and sew … the stitching is very good, but what about engineering? And here's what came back in 2015: let's talk about economic and trade integration. I think we have accomplished a lot, but there are debts such as border trade. You must have the courage to look at the fundamentals and that is what we do.

– What is Argentina's goal at the summit of G20 heads of state and government?

– It is not only timely to interact with key international actors to discuss the reforms undertaken by Argentina, the support that the country needs, but also to have an impact on the relevant dialogues for the world. international evolution. Where we seem validated by what was a G20 summit, held in our country last year, very successful and very positive in terms of trade and investment. The contributions of the Argentine presidency have made us a reference for many countries that are asking us for help to carry out their program. In addition, we aim to bring the summit back to the region in the next five years.

– What will be the role of Mauricio Macri in the troika that includes the post of president of the summit last year?

– Macri as a member of the Troika will seek to help the presidency (responsible for the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe). Japan has been very supportive in our presidency, as well as bilaterally, and we now want to help build consensus. Especially in the areas of trade and investment, some of the investments that depend on international events are unblocked.

– What impact can the international recession and the trade war have?

– The decline in world trade concerns us all. Always Some short-term problems of this trade war favor the price of some products that we manufacture in our region, but on the other side, we have a reduction of the trade which affects us negatively. The best is always the stability and growth of trade, because when international demand increases, the demand for our products increases; without prejudice to the fact that our countries may have a better placement of a product such as soybean in China or that we favor the entry into this market of pork products.

CP