After Mercosur, our South American trade association, was created in 1991, the free flow of people and goods increased, generating more security and border control requirements.
"Our first visit should be understood as an expression of the will of the future government of Brazil to give a decisive impetus to the reconstruction of Mercosur together with our partners in the region," Mr. da Silva said.
In our data, we account for Mercosur by weighting the intrazone tariff by the share of imports coming from Mercosur (which underestimates the average tariff).
Second, more U.S. trade specialists -- boots on the ground -- are needed in capitals of major trading partners and in key trade capitals, the headquarters of regional trade blocs like EU, ASEAN, MERCOSUR etc. to represent our business interests and influence adoption of U.S. standards.
Thirdly, we should have both a ministerial and an interparliamentary framework, the latter offering civilian populations the opportunity to have a voice and be heard and strengthening and supporting the American regional models, such as MERCOSUR, which are becoming established, through our model of regional parliament.
Eduardo Duhalde, a former president of Argentina who is now the political face of the Mercosur free-trade area, invoked another dream: "Our mirror will be the European Union, with all its institutions".
Our findings also indicate that container terminals located in Mercosur countries, and ports with three or four container terminals, are the most efficient, and that transhipment ports are less efficient than other type of ports.
"As developing countries, we have to radically restructure our economic relations and increase economic cooperation, investments and trade flows between our countries," Mr. Mbeki said in a speech on Dec. 15 to a Mercosur summit meeting in Florianopolis, Brazil.
Chile's president, Ricardo Lagos, says that Mercosur should be moving towards much deeper economic and political integration: "If it's just a trade agreement, if we coincide in our trade policy over time, then splendid, but if not, we will maintain our autonomy," he says.The Mercosur presidents have much invested in their block, and will probably put on a show of unity this week.
Fuerza Mercosur y Unasur!
