Argentina's Secretary of Economic Relations, Jorge Neme, rejected "the position that each country should initiate negotiations individually". | Photo: Argentine Foreign Ministry

Buenos Aires, June 12 (RHC)-- The Secretary of Economic Relations of Argentina, Jorge Neme, at the conference "Mercosur. Present and Future," urged the member countries of the mechanism to strengthen themselves as a bloc and not to think of individual mechanisms.

"It is essential for the Argentine industry to safeguard Mercosur, which has as its first international destination the countries of the bloc.  From this point of view, it is key to think that for the reconstruction of the social and productive fabric it is necessary to strengthen ourselves as a block and not to think of individual solutions", expressed the Argentine politician.

When specifying that Mercosur "constitutes the international projection platform par excellence for Argentina and the region," Jorge Neme insisted that "as a bloc we have another word and another weight in the international context when initiating negotiations with the rest of the regional blocs and third countries."

Regarding the external agenda of the organization, the Argentine representative indicated that the organization must rely on article one of the Treaty of Asunción. The aforementioned paragraph states that negotiations with third countries and regional blocs are carried out jointly.

"We do not share the position that each country should initiate negotiations individually. The strength of Mercosur lies in a joint international projection, which gives it greater negotiating capacity, where we can obtain greater advantages and we are convinced that from this point of view the economy can be strengthened," said Neme.

The statements of the Secretary of Economic Relations of Argentina come at a time when the Uruguayan government intends to establish negotiations with other countries without prior consultation with the regional mechanism.

An example of this was the report presented this Wednesday by the Uruguayan Foreign Minister, Francisco Bustillo, before the International Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, on "the proposal for the flexibilization of Mercosur with respect to possible agreements with third parties," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed out on its Twitter account.