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MERCOSUR

26-07-2024

12:21 PM

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1 min read
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Overview:

Recently, Bolivia became fulltime member of MERCOSUR groupings in order to increase trades with member countries.

About MERCOSUR: 

  • Mercosur (MERCOSUR for its Spanish initials) or the Southern Common Market is an economic and political bloc of Latin America.
  • Members: It originally comprised Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay as its members. Bolivia and Venezuela joined it later. (Venezuela has been suspended since December 1, 2016).
  • It was created in 1991 by signing the Treaty of Asunción, an accord calling for the “free movement of goods, services, and factors of production between countries.” 
  • The aim of MERCOSUR is to promote economic integration, free trade, and the movement of goods, services, and people among member countries.
  • Governance: The bloc’s highest decision-making body, the Common Market Council, provides a high-level forum for coordinating foreign and economic policy.
  • Its official working languages are Spanish and Portuguese.
  • India and MERCOSUR signed the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) in 2004, which allowed New Delhi to forge closer economic ties with one of the world’s largest trade blocs.
  • Headquarter: Montevideo, Uruguay.

Q1: What is Free Trade Agreement (FTA)?

A free trade agreement is a preferential arrangement in which members reduce tariffs on trade among themselves, while maintaining their own tariff rates for trade with nonmembers.

Source: Expanding Horizons in South American Regionalism as Bolivia joins MERCOSUR