[NYTr] MERCOSUR Summit Begins in Uruguay

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

MERCOSUR Summit Begins in Uruguay

Montevideo, Dec 17 (Prensa Latina) The 34th Summit of heads of Mercosur
states starts in this capital Monday with the Common Market Council
(CMC) Meeting at a foreign, finance and economy ministers level from
member countries.

The meeting begins with few essential advances to the bloc, like
training asymmetries among larger and lesser members of the bloc, the
elimination of the common external tariff"s double payment, and the
drawing up of the customs code.

The CMC, responsible for the Mercosur global aims, will have the
difficult mission of finding a way to heads of State for their Tuesday
meeting.

However, statements and documents analyzed by presidents from the
Central Banks and other entities of the bloc will predict that the
Summit will have more disagreements than agreements.

Today"s agenda includes a lunch by Uruguayan Foreign Minister Reinaldo
Gargano to CMC ministers and counterparts of associated States like
Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, and a meeting of
representatives from the Council member countries with associated ones.

Also in the list is the arrival of heads of State, who will attend the
Summit Tuesday, when Uruguay will pass the pro-tempore presidency of
the bloc to Argentina for the first semester of 2008.

Tuesday"s program will start with a working breakfast among CMC
representatives, heads of State of the member countries and associated
ones, in the Plenary Hall of the Mercosur building.

After that step, the handing over ceremony of the pro-tempore
presidency will take place, and later Uruguay"s President Tabare
Vazquez and Argentina"s Cristina Fernandez will deliver the Summit"s
closing speech.

It is expected that at noon Tuesday that the heads of State take the
conventional official photo, last official act of the Summit.

Parallel to this Mercosur Summit is the Union Summit of this bloc,
attended for Argentina by the Workers" General Confederation and the
Workers" Central Union, while for Brazil is the Workers" Union, the
"Forza Sindical," the second largest trade confederation, and the
Workers" General Union.

hr iff asg PL-9

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MERCOSUR-EU to Review Links

Montevideo, Dec 17 (Prensa Latina) Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez
and EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Joaquin Almunia
meet Monday in the Uruguayan capital to review and re-launch relations
between Mercosur and the European Union.

The meeting is the prelude to the 34th Summit of Mercosur"s Chiefs of
State, and one of its key goals is to invigorate negotiations for the
signing of a free trade agreement between the two blocs, which have
been stalemated in the last ten years.

Almunia also plans to attend the meeting of the Mercosur Council, in
charge of drawing up the final declaration the presidents of Argentina,
Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, the bloc"s full members, will analyze
and signed tomorrow.

According to an EU release, the official will also present the
Mercosur-EU prospects to the South American foreign and economy
ministers, and sign a memorandum of understanding through which the EU
will make a non-refundable contribution of 50 million Euros to the
regional integration process.

hr dig asg PL-11