Cablegate: Mercosul - Sao Paulo Media Reaction

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TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD XM XR BR
SUBJECT: Mercosul - Sao Paulo Media Reaction

Title- Today's Mercosul does not work

Economic writer Rolf Kuntz comments in center-right O Estado de S.
Paulo (11/20): "Suddenly, the major Doha Round negotiators sit at
the table with a strong tendency to reach an agreement. Naturally,
some concessions from both sides will be missed, and none of them
will be too heavy for Brazil... At this moment, the favorable
scenario to the conclusion of trade global negotiations is only a
very optimistic hypothesis, but it cannot be considered a
hallucination.... The problem would be less complicated if Mercosul
were not, formally, a customs union, but only a free trade area.
...If the pattern of behavior of the governments of the bloc is
maintained, the four partners will continue to be impeded in signing
major trade agreements. All the integration of Mercosul up to now -
and much more - would be possible in a free trade area. It is time
to seriously think about that."
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