Southern Cone Common Market (Mercosur/Mercosul)

Nemby Nemuha

Mercado Común do Cono Sur

Mercado Comum de Cone Sul

Established: By treaty signed March 26, 1991, in Asunción, Paraguay, by the presidents of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

Purpose: To establish a regional “common market of the southern cone” through the harmonization of policies in agriculture, industry, finance, transportation, and other sectors; to promote economic development through expanded extraregional trade and the pursuit of foreign investment.

Headquarters: Montevideo, Uruguay.

Principal Organs: Council of the Common Market, Common Market Group, Joint Parliamentary Commission, Secretariat.

Website: www.mercosur.int (in Spanish and Portuguese only).

Secretary General: Tabaré Vázquez (Uruguay).

Membership (5): Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela (suspended in 2016).

Associate Members (7): Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname.

Observer (2): Mexico, New Zealand.

Official Languages: Guaraní, Portuguese, Spanish.

Origin and development. The idea of a regional common market ...

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