Brazil Foreign Minister makes first official visit to Argentina

Foreign Minister José Serra is in Argentina, Brazil's main partner in MERCOSUR—the Southern Common Market, which also includes Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

According to Argentina's ABECEB consultancy, recession has knocked down bilateral trade by 42% in the past four years, bringing it from $39.6 billion in 2011 down to $23 billion in 2015.

On Monday (May 23), Serra will meet with Argentine President Mauricio Macri, who took office five months ago after 12 years of Kirchner governments—Néstor Kirchner was president from 2003 to 2007, and his wife and successor, Cristina Fernández, completed her second term in December 2015.

The foreign minister will also meet with Susana Malcorra, his counterpart in Argentina, who last week announced she was running for UN Secretary-General, and Argentina's Finance Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay.

In his inaugural speech, José Serra said one of his short-term priorities will be to further relations with Argentina, a country with which, he says, Brazil now “shares similar perspectives for political and economic reorganization,” renew MERCOSUR “to fix what needs to be fixed” and “build bridges with the Pacific Alliance,” a bloc composed of Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Peru.

There is another motive behind Serra's first official visit to a foreign country: telling Brazil's main partner that interim President Michel Temer's is a legitimate government and the ongoing impeachment case against President Dilma Rousseff is a constitutional one. On Sunday night (May 22), Brazilian protesters awaited Serra at the door of the embassy in Buenos Aires to protest what they see as a “coup.” They vowed to continue the protest throughout Serra's visit to Argentina.

One of the most controversial issues mentioned by Serra is a relaxation of MERCOSUR's policy to allow its members to negotiate bilateral agreements with non-member countries. The original purpose of MERCOSUR's creators was to follow the steps of the European Union (EU), which has created a boundless market between 28 countries, a common currency (the euro) adopted by 19 of its members, and a common foreign and economic policy.

Since its creation 25 years ago, MERCOSUR has had ups and downs, with its members creating trade barriers to protect their own domestic markets in times of crisis.

According to Argentinian political analyst Jorge Castro, Serra's visit demonstrates that Brazil “is taking an offensive stance to increase investments” in an economy in recession. “Brazil needs to export more to grow and recover. But in order to do so, it will have to open its market to imports,” he said.

In Castro's opinion, Temer and Macri share similar views on how to lead the region's economies at this new stage. “This is not meant to end the MERCOSUR, but to deepen it and, at the same time, look for new ways to negotiate bilateral agreements,” he said.

Translated by Mayra Borges