Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08SAOPAULO618
2008-11-20 11:57:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Consulate Sao Paulo
Cable title:
Mercosul - Sao Paulo Media Reaction
how-toVZCZCXYZ0022 OO RUEHWEB DE RUEHSO #0618 3251157 ZNR UUUUU ZZH O 201157Z NOV 08 FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8716 INFO RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC IMMEDIATE RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 9872 RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO PRIORITY 8924 RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC 3209
UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000618
SIPDIS
STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD
DEPT PASS USTR
USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD XM XR BR
SUBJECT: Mercosul - Sao Paulo Media Reaction
Title- Today's Mercosul does not work
Economic writer Rolf Kuntz comments in center-right O Estado de S.
Paulo (11/20): "Suddenly, the major Doha Round negotiators sit at
the table with a strong tendency to reach an agreement. Naturally,
some concessions from both sides will be missed, and none of them
will be too heavy for Brazil... At this moment, the favorable
scenario to the conclusion of trade global negotiations is only a
very optimistic hypothesis, but it cannot be considered a
hallucination.... The problem would be less complicated if Mercosul
were not, formally, a customs union, but only a free trade area.
...If the pattern of behavior of the governments of the bloc is
maintained, the four partners will continue to be impeded in signing
major trade agreements. All the integration of Mercosul up to now -
and much more - would be possible in a free trade area. It is time
to seriously think about that."
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