Economy minister: Digital market key to Mercosur

Mercosur turned 30 years old in March this year

Published on 08/11/2021 - 16:00 By Andreia Verdélio - Brasília

Brazil’s Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said today (Nov. 8) the digital market is crucial to the modernization of Mercosur and the expansion of its capacity to respond to new arrangements in global integration. “We have to incorporate this digital approach,” he said, in reference to the creation of a market attractive for business.

Guedes spoke during the opening ceremony of a seminar entitled The role of Mercosur in trans-Border e-Trade and the Construction of a Regional Digital Market, an online event by Brazil’s pro tempore presidency in partnership with the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

According to the minister, Mercosur nations had an anticipatory vision in the creation of the bloc in 1991, boosting competitiveness in their markets, but ended up “lagging behind” on the global race on account of “outdated arrangements.” In Guedes’s view, there is now a new opportunity to relaunch bloc platforms including the digital market. “We are emerging from the [COVID-19] pandemic, still this digital dimension still grows at an accelerated pace.”

Mercosur turned 30 years old in March this year. The bloc is made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, plus associated countries.

Translation: Fabrício Ferreira -  Edition: Valéria Aguiar / Nira Foster

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