Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Home
Business
Business Home
Economy
Technology
Media
Small Business
Legal
Deals
Earnings
Social Pulse
Business Video
The Freeland File
Aerospace & Defense
Markets
Markets Home
U.S. Markets
European Markets
Asian Markets
Global Market Data
Indices
M&A
Stocks
Bonds
Currencies
Commodities
Futures
Funds
peHUB
World
World Home
U.S.
Brazil
China
Euro Zone
Japan
Mexico
Russia
India Insight
World Video
Reuters Investigates
Decoder
Politics
Politics Home
Election 2012
Campaign Polling
Tales from the Trail
Political Punchlines
Supreme Court
Politics Video
Tech
Technology Home
MediaFile
Science
Tech Video
Tech Tonic
Social Pulse
Opinion
Opinion Home
Chrystia Freeland
John Lloyd
Felix Salmon
Jack Shafer
David Rohde
Bernd Debusmann
Nader Mousavizadeh
Lucy P. Marcus
David Cay Johnston
Bethany McLean
Anatole Kaletsky
Edward Hadas
Hugo Dixon
Ian Bremmer
Lawrence Summers
Susan Glasser
The Great Debate
Steven Brill
Jack & Suzy Welch
Frederick Kempe
Christopher Papagianis
Mark Leonard
Breakingviews
Equities
Credit
Private Equity
M&A
Macro & Markets
Politics
Breakingviews Video
Money
Money Home
Tax Break
Lipper Awards 2012
Global Investing
MuniLand
Unstructured Finance
Linda Stern
Mark Miller
John Wasik
James Saft
Analyst Research
Alerts
Watchlist
Portfolio
Stock Screener
Fund Screener
Personal Finance Video
Money Clip
Investing 201
Life
Olympics
Health
Sports
Arts
Faithworld
Business Traveler
Entertainment
Oddly Enough
Lifestyle Video
Pictures
Pictures Home
Reuters Photographers
Full Focus
Video
Reuters TV
Reuters News
Article
Comments (0)
Full Focus
Editor's choice
Our best photos from the last 24 hours. See more
Images of June
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
India power cut hits millions, among world's worst outages
12:15pm EDT
Olympics fans find ways to circumvent NBC's online control
|
9:39am EDT
Syrian aircraft strike Aleppo, rebels claim successes
|
2:59pm EDT
Apple lawyer: Samsung deliberately chose to copy iPhone
3:29pm EDT
India power cut hits millions, among world's worst outages
|
4:13pm EDT
Discussed
100
Romney backs Israel if needs to strike Iran: aide says
74
Syria sends armored column to Aleppo, strikes from air
72
U.S. fears Syria preparing for massacre in Aleppo
Sponsored Links
Pictures
Reuters Photojournalism
Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography. See more | Photo caption
Olympic best
Our top photos from the London 2012 Olympic Games. Slideshow
India in the dark
Half of India's 1.2 billion people are without power in the country's second major blackout in as many days. Slideshow
Mercosur embraces Chavez despite protests from business
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
Mercosur embraces Chavez despite protests from business
12:48pm EDT
Venezuela may sell Brazil oil, buy Embraer planes: Chavez
7:48am EDT
Venezuela withdrawing from regional human rights court
Wed, Jul 25 2012
Analysis & Opinion
Why Argentina’s likely to beat Elliott Associates
The conflict turns 30
Related Topics
World »
Cuba »
Venezuela »
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez smiles during a news conference after meeting with presidents of the Mercosur trade bloc in the Special Mercosur summit at Planalto Palace in Brasilia July 31, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino
By Alonso Soto
BRASILIA |
Tue Jul 31, 2012 4:54pm EDT
BRASILIA (Reuters) - On his first foreign trip since undergoing cancer treatment in Cuba earlier this year, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on hailed his country's welcome by fellow South American leaders into a troubled regional trade bloc on Tuesday.
Ignoring criticism that Venezuela's entry could eventually cause greater dysfunction among the Mercosur trade bloc's members, Chavez cast the event as a continuation of his self-styled revolution and a sign of greater ascendance for South America as a whole.
"Our north is the south," the Venezuelan president said, evoking Simon Bolivar and other revolutionaries who wrested the continent from colonial powers. "Mercosur is, without a doubt, the most powerful engine that exists to preserve our independence."
Chavez, who recently declared himself cancer-free, stood at a podium throughout his 20-minute speech in Brazil's capital and spoke in a clear, strong voice.
The meeting was overshadowed by controversial events that enabled Venezuela's entry into Mercosur, which also includes Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. The grouping now accounts for about $3.3 trillion in combined gross domestic product, and the leaders said it would be the world's fifth-largest economy if it were a single nation.
The expansion of Mercosur was criticized by many who see a paradox in the protectionist policies and leftist slant that increasingly have come to dominate a bloc originally created to liberalize trade.
After years of stalled negotiations with Caracas, the group hastily accepted Venezuela despite the objections of Paraguay, a marked absence at Tuesday's meeting. The other three countries made their invitation to Chavez after suspending Paraguay in June because of the controversial impeachment there by conservative legislators of leftist president Fernando Lugo.
That move troubled critics, who said it was emblematic of the decline of a bloc that was founded in 1995, at a time when a group of free-market reformers was dominant in the region.
"What was once an economic bloc has now been reduced to a political sideshow," said Mario Marconini, a former Brazilian trade secretary who is now a business consultant in Sao Paulo. The inclusion of Venezuela despite the veto of a full-fledged member, "is a fatal blow to its economic credibility."
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said on Tuesday that Paraguay's suspension is justified until the country "normalizes" its internal politics. Brazil and other neighboring countries have argued that Paraguay must proceed with its regularly scheduled presidential elections next year before they consider its government to be stable.
FOCUS ON CHAVEZ
Most of the other leaders present glazed over the Paraguay controversy, and focused instead on criticizing the orthodox economic policies of the developed world. They cited Mercosur as a vehicle that could further regional goals of fair trade, equitable growth, and social inclusion.
Chavez said construction companies from Mercosur countries should take part in ongoing projects to build millions of subsidized homes in Venezuela. Argentine President Cristina Fernandez said the region would continue to produce all-important raw materials for the global economy, but demanded "financial stability" in return from richer countries.
Mercosur, she said, could "make this new pole of power indivisible, indestructible."
Chavez, who has spent more than 13 years in office, has pursued a personality driven government that has scared away foreign investors and crippled productivity. His acceptance by Mercosur, opponents say, will give him one more thing to boast about as he campaigns for another six-year term ahead of Venezuela's presidential election in October.
Officially, the leaders hailed Venezuela's strengths as a major oil producer and an important market for everything from Brazilian machinery to Argentine wheat. In practice, though, Venezuela can't fully participate in the bloc until it agrees to accept common tariffs adopted by Mercosur, common agreements with third-party countries, and other prerequisites that Chavez has failed to embrace since talks for inclusion began in 2006.
In private, Brazilian exporters say they are worried about doing more business with Venezuela. Though Brazil exports appliances, vehicles, and other products to the Andean country, companies have problems with Venezuela's strict currency controls and onerous rules for the repatriation of profits.
BLOC IS ALREADY TROUBLED
"The bloc is a mess," said Rubens Barbosa, a former Brazilian representative to Mercosur who is now a consultant.
"Just imagine if you start adding Venezuela and others," he added, noting recent discussions to include Bolivia and Ecuador, two countries with close ties to Chavez.
Tuesday's ceremony was accompanied by a trickle of business as Chavez and Rousseff formalized a previously disclosed plan by Conviasa, the Venezuelan airline, to purchase 100-seat jets made by Embraer, the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer. Under the terms of the agreement, Conviasa will pay about $270 million for six Embraer 190 jets, with an option for 14 more.
Meanwhile, Venezuela and Argentina signed an agreement for greater investment in each other's oil sector. PDVSA, Venezuela's state-run oil producer, will invest in Argentine petrochemicals, and YPF, its Argentine counterpart, will invest in Venezuelan oil fields, according to the agreement.
(Writing and additional reporting by Paulo Prada in Rio de Janeiro; Editing by Todd Benson and Stacey Joyce)
World
Cuba
Venezuela
Related Quotes and News
Company
Price
Related News
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment on reuters.com.
Add yours using the box above.
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Back to top
Reuters.com
Business
Markets
World
Politics
Technology
Opinion
Money
Pictures
Videos
Site Index
Legal
Bankruptcy Law
California Legal
New York Legal
Securities Law
Support & Contact
Support
Corrections
Connect with Reuters
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
RSS
Podcast
Newsletters
Mobile
About
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
AdChoices
Copyright
Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider
An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution
A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance
Our next generation legal research platform
Our global tax workstation
Thomsonreuters.com
About Thomson Reuters
Investor Relations
Careers
Contact Us
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.