The government celebrated the "achievements" of its Mercosur presidency

The Argentine government today presented to Santa Fe the conclusions of his temporary presidency at the head of Mercosur before the formal transfer to Brazil at the summit of presidents tomorrow. Before the plenary badembly of the chancellors of the bloc, Jorge Faurie has described the strategic partnership agreement signed with the European Union as "a turning point""For all members and said that Mercosur has already shown that he is old enough to wear long pants.

"I dared to compare that to the 18-year-old of a young man.We had a birth certificate from Ouro Preto and with this EU-Mercosur agreement, we have shown that we can wear long pants, that we are a credible character at the international level."Faurie said, meeting with his peers Ernesto Fraga Araujo (Brazil), Luis Alberto Castiglioni (Paraguay) and Rodolfo Nin Novoa (Uruguay) in the context of the Common Market Council, in the Belgrano Recycled Station of the Satanian capital, Faur.

Faurie: "We have shown that we can wear pants, that we are a credible figure at the international level"

In the same spirit, the Secretary of Foreign Economic Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed his opinion, Horacio Reyser, speaking of the need for Mercosur to be "an ideologized platform", in order to progress, beyond the political color of the governments, in several agreements of this type. Responsible for coordinating meetings on the first day of the Mercosur summit yesterday, and negotiating with Argentina with the agreement with Europe with Foreign Trade Minister Marisa Bircher, Reyser was in charge of the balance of the Argentine presidency pro tempore. .

"Beyond the external front, important progress has also been made in the internal agenda of Mercosur during this semester," says the summary distributed to the media from the San Martín Palace. "Thanks to the political will and negotiating efforts of all States Parties, we have achieved concrete results that are important both for our integration process and for our citizens in particular."He says.

Over the past few months, the Government has summarized its work in three areas: reform and strengthen the institutional structure of Mercosur, deepen the economic and trade agenda, and specify, through specific agreements, the agenda for external negotiations.. On items two and three, much of the discussion regarding the potentialities of the EU-Mercosur agreement and other ongoing free trade negotiations with EFTA and Canada, more advanced, and the South Korea, Singapore and Vietnam, plus initial state.

Regarding the block's internal agenda, the authorities pointed to a series of "achievements" of the Argentine leadership as the signing of an agreement to eliminate roaming charges in the region. inside the borders of Mercosur. and progress in deliberations on the need to change – and reduce in some sectors – the common external tariff "so that our economies gain in productivity and competitiveness in the international scenario".

The government has summarized its work in three areas: reform and strengthen the institutional structure of Mercosur, deepen the economic agenda and finalize trade negotiations

They also referred to the contract signed with the River Plate Basin Financial Fund for improving the management of the financial resources of the Structural Convergence Fund (FOCEM) – although the opposition has long denounced the paralysis of many works in progress. own territories financed by this channel. And the approval of a normative framework for a common global budget, the elimination and merging of technical and advisory forums, the implementation of the guidelines for the work plan for border health, as well as the agreement for a "regional plan for eradication". and the prevention of forced labor and trafficking for the purpose of labor exploitation "and the co-ordination of joint labor inspections in border areas.

Tomorrow, from noon, it will be the turn of the presidents of Mercosur, led by Mauricio Macri. Earlier, the bloc's Foreign and Economic Affairs Ministers would meet again in preliminary plenary meetings with Heads of State.

CP