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Title |
Democratic
Governance and Human Development in LAC Edition Nº 67 January-June 2003 |
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Author |
Permanent
Secretariat of SELA |
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XXIV MERCOSUR Meeting
Declaration 1.
The XXIV Meeting of the Common Market Council was held in Asuncion, Paraguay,
on June 18, 2003, with attendance by the Presidents of Argentina, Nestor
Kirchner; Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva; Paraguay, Luis González Macchi;
and Uruguay, Jorge Batlle. 2.
The Presidents, while underlining MERCOSUR's contribution to the
strengthening of democracy in each of their countries, reaffirmed their
commitment to further deepen MERCOSUR with a view to insuring the sustainable
development and the competitive insertion of their nations into the global
economy. 3.
They expressed the view that the region's present economic situation
underlines the need to make progress towards a comprehensive Customs Union,
keeping in mind the future establishment of the Common Market. 4.
They underlined the need to give
priority to the social dimension of MERCOSUR in order to foster equitable
development within the Member States and within the region as a whole.
Emphasis in this regard should be given to such measures as would favor
social and economic inclusion of the more vulnerable segments of society. In
the labor area, they highlighted the need to adopt measures against child
labor, the free movement of workers, and to include labor-related issues in
the integration process' agenda of goals. 5.
They expressed their satisfaction for
the presence of the Presidents of Bolivia, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, and
Chile, Ricardo Lagos, by which MERCOSU's commitment to continue strengthening
its association links with both countries is confirmed. 6.
They highlighted the participation of
the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Don Hugo Chávez Frías,
as a contribution to honor the commitment to South American integration. 7.
They expressed their satisfaction upon
the signature of the MERCOSUR-India Framework Agreement, which opens new
avenues for trade relations between both parties in the context of achieving,
in a gradual manner, a free trade area. 8.
They noted with satisfaction the
presence of representatives of the government of the Republic of South
Africa, a country with which MERCOSUR is presently negotiating a trade
liberalization agreement. 9. They took note of the results of the work
entrusted to the Economy Ministers and to the Presidents of the Central Banks
of MERCOSUR, who underlined the importance the harmonization of macroeconomic
variables has for the integration process, as well as for the preservation of
the common goals established by the Florianópolis Declaration. 10.
They gave positive consideration to the proposal by Paraguay on the issue of
asymmetries between MERCOSUR Member States as an important contribution to a
stronger regional integration process, recognizing the need to adopt policies
and specific measures in relation thereto, as agreed by the Foreign Affairs
Ministerial Meeting held in February in Montevideo. In this regard, they
instructed the competent bodies to adopt the necessary implementation
measures during the coming semester. They equally expressed that, in order to
preserve MERCOSUR's cohesiveness in the context of negotiations with third
parties, the group must allow for unavoidable flexibilities, required to
avoid hampering the competitiveness of its productions and to insure the
preservation of a common trade liberalization platform. 11.
They agreed on the need to give new impetus to negotiations within MERCOSUR
and to make progress towards a comprehensive medium term program. They instructed the GMC, on the basis of
proposals by the Member States, to advance proposals, initiatives and time
frames, to be considered by an extraordinary meeting of the CMC during the
first half of October. In this regard, under the name of
"Goal 2006", Brazil advanced a proposal for consolidation that
covers five basic areas: 'Cultural, Social and Political Program'; 'Customs
Union Program'; 'Basis for a Common Market Program'; 'New Integration
Program'; and 'Border Integration Program'. Argentina presented a proposal for the
establishment of a MERCOSUR monetary institute. These initiatives, together with any
other that may be presented, shall be considered on the occasion of the
above-mentioned extraordinary meeting. The Presidents decided to hold an
extraordinary meeting within sixty days, in order to further consider the
above-mentioned items as well as to consider the future establishment of a
MERCOSUR parliament. They equally agreed to give, within the
political integration process of MERCOSUR, further consideration to the
issues of security, education, labor, health, defense, and others of
interest. 12.
They gave firm support to a continuation of the work undertaken by MERCOSUR's
Ad-Hoc Group on Border Integration, the goals of which are to promote
economic development and higher living standards for border-areas
communities. 13.
They expressed their support to the work undertaken by MERCOSUR's Specialized
Meeting of Municipalities and Intendencies and to the meeting of the Council
of the Network of Merco-cities in their effort to strengthen the relationship
between the region's urban communities. 14.
They expressed satisfaction for the successful launching of the program
Wood-and-Furniture Production-Chain Competitiveness Fora, held in Asuncion on
March 31. This initiative represents a significant step forward in efforts
aimed at improving competitiveness conditions, a balanced distribution of
added value, and the establishment of complementarities among the region's
productive sectors. On this basis, they invited MERCOSUR's competent bodies
to consider the establishment of similar arrangements for other
production-chains, to establish their programs of work, and to consider
financing alternatives for the fora themselves and for the projects derived there-from. 15.
They highlighted their commitment to further strengthen mechanisms and
initiatives for a common MERCOSUR trade promotion, to be conceived and
implemented with the goal of insuring new business opportunities in the
international markets. 16.
Recognizing its contributions as an important tool for development, they
agreed on the need to give impetus to the cooperative movement within
MERCOSUR. In this regard, they requested MERCOSUR's Specialized Meeting on
Cooperatives to continue to make progress in its debates, on the
understanding that the cooperative movement represents an important factor
for regional development, economic integration and social inclusion and
cohesiveness. 17. They underlined the importance liberalization
in trade-related services has for a balanced progress towards consolidation
of the Common Market, and called for a prompt ratification and entry into
force of the Montevideo Protocol on Trade-Related Services. They expressed
their support for a conclusion of the IV Round of Negotiations on Specific
Commitments in Services before next November 30. 18.
They expressed satisfaction with MERCOSUR Secretariat's change to a technical
body, which will contribute to the strengthening of the integration bloc at
the institutional level, and called upon the Member States to cooperate with
the secretariat in order for it to be in position to fulfill its new
mandates. 19.
They recalled the need to integrate MERCOSUR's rules and regulations into the
Member State's national legislation and thereby insure their legal standing
within the Customs Union. 20.
They highlighted the important role MERCOSUR's Common Parliamentary
Commission plays at the institutional level, and called upon the Commission
to give continuation to the tasks it has undertaken in relation to
significantly improving the situation regarding parliamentary review and the
entry into force of MERCOSUR's rules and regulations, thereby assisting in
the consolidation of the integration process. 21. They underlined the importance of making
progress towards the creation of the MERCOSUR Parliament. They instructed the
Ministries of Foreign Affairs to coordinate the organization of forums to
examine the issue, including therein the holding of direct elections. 22.
Within the institutional area they furthermore expressed satisfaction for the
legislative approval of the Olivos Protocol, by which a Permanent Appeals
Tribunal was established to reinforce legal security, the validity of
commitments entered upon through the integration process and the protection
of the whole of society's interests. 23.
They stressed the importance of making progress towards the full integration
of MERCOSUR with Bolivia and Chile by way of deepening the scope of,
respectively, the Economic Complementarity Agreements Nos. 36 and 35. 24.They
committed themselves to making all possible efforts in order for the
negotiations between MERCOSUR and Peru to conclude, in a manner satisfactory
to the interests of the Member States, at the beginning of the second semester
of 2003. 25.They
endorsed the results of the MERCOSUR and Andean Community Foreign Affairs
Ministers Meeting, held in Santiago de Chile on June 10 in the context of the
XXXIII General Assembly of the OAS. They expressed their commitment to a
conclusion of the negotiations with each of the members of the Andean
Community during the current year and took note of the willingness expressed
by the governments of Ecuador and Venezuela to engage in negotiations with
MERCOSUR. 26.
They expressed their satisfaction for the celebration of the IV High Level
Meeting MERCOSUR - Korea and for the seminar 'How to Make Business with
Korea', which took place in Asunción on June 12 and 13 last. 27.
They underscored the efforts made by MERCOSUR in the negotiations with the
European Union to improve its offer in the field of goods and on the
presentation of initial offers in the fields of services and investment, and
expressed their hope that the IX Meeting of the Interregional Negotiations Committee,
to be held in Asunción on June 23 to 27 next, concludes with significant
progress in the field of market access for agro-industrial products. 28.
As a critical contribution to progress in the hemispheric negotiations, they
highlighted the coordinated approach taken by MERCOSUR in the presentation of
initial offerings to the FTAA countries in the field of agricultural and
industrial goods. They equally stressed the need for agricultural issues, in
particular those related to trade distorting subsidies, to be covered by the
FTAA negotiations, and not only considered under the WTO, in order to achieve
the required balance in the hemispheric negotiations, as needed to insure
free market access for agro-industrial goods. 29.
They reaffirmed the importance of a full implementation of the commitments
entered upon in the Doha Development Agenda, adopted under the framework of
the World Trade Organization, consisting in deepening the scope of the
negotiations in a balanced and ample manner. They
stressed that the Cancun Ministerial meeting will represent an important
point of reference in this regard. 30.
They shared the conviction that participation in the integration effort by
those sectors of civil society represented at the Social and Economic
Consultative Forum should be fostered. They therefore considered important to
strengthen the Forum as MERCOSUR's consultative body. 31.
They expressed satisfaction for the holding of the 'Regional Preparatory
Meeting of the International Ministerial Conference of Financial and
International Development Instruments Donor Countries in the field of
Transport', held in Asunción on March 12 and 13 last. In this regard, they
recognized the special geographic condition of land-locked countries, due to
which these countries deserve adequate treatment. 32.
They expressed satisfaction for the official launching in Montevideo, on May
22 of the current year, of the Project for the Environmental Protection and
Sustainable Development of the Guaraní Aquifer System, and wished all success
to the Republic of Paraguay as chair during its first two years of
implementation. 33. They expressed their gratitude on the tenure of the out-going President of the Republic of Paraguay, Don Luis González Macchi, and on the Government of Paraguay's efforts to promote MERCOSUR's institutional process. |
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