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Mercosur accepts Venezuela as
full member
A one-day summit of the Common
Market of the South (Mercosur)
accepted here on Friday
Venezuela as a full member of
the South America's leading
trade bloc and agreed to set up
a regional parliament.
Venezuela, an associate member
of the bloc since 2004, was
given full membership at the
29th summit of Mercosur, which
was founded in 1991 by Uruguay,
Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil.
"I give a hearty welcome to a
friend," Brazilian President
LuizInacio Lula Da Silva said at
the summit held in Uruguay's
capital Montevideo.
"Mercosur continues to be an
engine for economic integration,
ever more important for our
countries," he said.
According to the bloc's
procedures, it would take at
least months for Venezuela to be
fully incorporated into Mercosur
and the country will participate
in meetings but without voting
privileges during this period.
Venezuela, South America's third
largest economy and the world's
fifth biggest oil exporter, has
been a sharp critic of the
United Sates and has led the
opposition against the US-backed
Free Trade Area of the Americas.
Analysts here said the country's
entry into Mercosur could be of
more political significance than
economic influence.
"More than a common market,
Mercosur is the main instrument
for promoting the international
interests of the members," said
Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez, who referred to the bloc
as "the shield for our economic
and political interests."
Leading the region's economic
growth rate of 9.1 percent in
the first nine months of 2005,
and with huge oil reserves,
Venezuela is to bring economic
heft for Mercosur. With
Venezuela, the bloc will have a
population of 252 million, or
some 70 percent of South
America's total.
Meanwhile, the leaders also
agreed at the summit to restart
the long-delayed plan to set up
a Mercosur parliament, signaling
moves toward a regional
political body of the formerly
tariff union.
A senior diplomat from Uruguay,
which currently holds the bloc's
rotating presidency, said that
the summit has been the most
successful one in years.
"It rekindled our hope of
strengthening regional
cooperation," said the diplomat
who declined to be identified.
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