translated from Spanish: Argentina withdraws from Mercosur’s external negotiations

Argentina decided to take distance and not to continue the external negotiations of the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR), which integrates with Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil, to focus on the internal economy following the crisis of the pandemic by coronavirus as announced, on Friday, the chancellery of Paraguay.The communiqué, announced: “The Republic of Paraguay, in exercise of the Pro Témpore Presidency of MERCOSUR , agrees to report that the Argentine Republic announced the decision to stop participating in the negotiations of the ongoing trade agreements and the future negotiations of the bloc”.
Alberto Fernandez and the Chancellor, Felipe Sola, adopted this position by arguing the priority in domestic economic policy because these free trade agreements are with countries producing goods that compete with local industry, which was severely worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Secretary of International Economic Relations, Jorge Neme, who represented the country in the video conference, clarified: “I believe that we must move forward in the search for institutional legal solutions that allow you, as majority countries, who intend to move forward at a pace that we cannot accompany, can do so and Argentina has the opportunity to evaluate in due course how to join.” For its part, Mercosur “will assess the most appropriate legal, institutional and operational measures because of the sovereign decision of the Argentine Republic in order not to affect the process of community construction of MERCOSUR and the ongoing trade negotiations”.

Original source in Spanish