Temer in Montevideo for Mercosur summit meeting

Brazilian President Michel Temer is attending the 53rd Summit of Heads of State of Mercosur and Associate States. After the meeting, a lunch will be offered by Uruguayan President Tabaré Vásquez to presidents and chancellers. He is expected to return to Brasília in the evening.

"We restored Mercosur’s original vocation for free trade and democracy,” said Temer- Cesar Itiberê/PR

On his Twitter account, Temer stressed the importance of the meeting. “I am attending the Mercosur summit meeting today in Montevideo. In the last two years, we’ve made significant progress. We restored Mercosur’s original vocation for free trade and democracy.”

Brazil’s Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes Ferreira said yesterday (Dec. 17) in Montevideo both the current and the coming administration are willing to support Mercosur in ongoing negotiations.

“Mercosur is not over and finished, it must undergo improvements in the way it operates, the way it interacts with other economies. [Mercosur] is always under transformation and enhancement. If you see what Mercosur was two years ago, you’d see how much progress we’ve made,” he pointed out.

During the assembly, Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri will be granted from the Uruguayan government the pro tempore chair of the bloc, formed by Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguray, and Venezuela—which has been temporarily suspended. The meeting ends at midday tomorrow.

*With information from Télam, in Argentina.