MERCOSUR Condenms US Blockade Against Cuba ARGENTINA, August 3RD, 2010. — At the closing act of the 39th Summit of the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) , its member countries "expressed their rejection toward the US economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba with the conviction that it is contrary to the principles of the UN Charter", stated the final declaration of this event, reported ANSA. Different agreements were approved at this high-ranking meeting such as the drafting of a customs code, which will improve the bloc made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, after six years of discussion, reported TeleSur. Argentine president Cristina Fernández, whose country transferred the temporary presidency of MERCOSUR to Brazil for the next six months, said "this is an achievement for all, of those four member states. Very few people believed we would be able to agree on this because they didn´t bet MERCOSUR could be improved." At this meeting, Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expressed his willingness to hold talks with the Colombian and Venezuelan governments to iron out differences, because the better the relationship between nations " the better for their peoples." Venezuelan foreign minister Nicolás Maduro commended their efforts to achieve unity across the continent and said that Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez could not attend this meeting due to health and state reasons, reported PL. Among other commercial agreements, a free trade agreement with Egypt was signed and discussions with the European Union were reopened, while Brazilian, Argentine and Chilean presidents held talks on the project to build a tunnel under the Andes. Likewise, the members states of this regional bloc and their allies condenmed the Israeli attack on one of the ships of the Flotilla de la Libertad and supported the call for the UN to carry out a thorough and impartial investigation, EFE. The custom union also condenmed the Arizona law (US) on immigration as it considers that these kind of regulations can encourage discrimination and persecution of immigrants in that country , as well as racist and xenophobic attitudes. (Cubaminrex – Granma)
|