On December 7, the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) announced its decision to admit Bolivia as the 5th official member of this regional economic association, and signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Singapore.
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| MERCOSUR, which just admitted Bolivia, immediately signed an FTA with Singapore. (Source: gov.br) |
Speaking at the MERCOSUR Leaders' Summit in Rio de Janeiro, President Lula da Silva affirmed that Bolivia's accession to MERCOSUR is an "important achievement" for the bloc.
Sharing on social media, Bolivian President Luis Arce said that this South American country has become an official member of MERCOSUR after the "Mercosur Accession Protocol" was approved and issued in a ceremony at the summit, witnessed by the leaders of the bloc's original member countries: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Bolivia's president described joining MERCOSUR as “an important milestone in regional integration”.
Bolivia will have four years to adjust its import and export tax policies to comply with MERCOSUR customs regulations. After this process, Bolivia will have the right to vote on decisions within the Bloc.
Bolivia has been an associate partner of MERCOSUR since 1998. In 2015, the country signed the protocol of accession to the bloc.
The addition of Bolivia, a country with large gas and lithium reserves, would expand the MERCOSUR market from 283 million to 295 million people.
This integration strengthens economic ties between Brazil, Mercosur and the Asian region, creating opportunities for further export diversification and investment."
“Mercosur is growing and asserting itself on the international stage. The Brazilian Congress has just approved Bolivia’s accession to the bloc, allowing for more trade, more investment and more common development,” said Geraldo Alckmin, Vice President and Minister of Development, Industry, Trade and Services of Brazil. The Vice President noted that Bolivia’s accession creates even more important space for regional integration and the possibility of common development.
On the same day, December 7, the bloc officially signed an FTA with Singapore. This is the first time in 12 years that MERCOSUR has reached a trade agreement with a partner outside the bloc.
The agreement was officially signed with the participation of host country President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Argentine President Alberto Fernandez, Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou, and Paraguayan President Santiago Peña, and the presence of the President of Bolivia – a country recently admitted as an official member of MERCOSUR.
According to the Brazilian government, the signing of the new generation FTA with Singapore expands trade cooperation opportunities with Southeast Asia, a region considered to have great potential. This FTA helps diversify trade flows and improve conditions for investment formation between the two sides because Singapore is an important supplier of capital in the world.
At the opening of the Mercosur Common Market Council meeting a day earlier, Vice President and Minister of Development, Industry, Trade and Services Geraldo Alckmin stressed that the signing of the Mercosur-Singapore agreement and Bolivia's accession to the economic bloc would expand investment and trade in the region.
Trade between MERCOSUR and Singapore in 2022 is expected to reach around 10 billion USD.
For Brazil alone, Singapore was the 7th largest export market in the world and the 2nd largest in Asia for this South American country last year, with a turnover of 8.4 billion USD.
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