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04/09/2006:
"Bachelet: joining Mercosur would be “back stepping”"
The recently inaugurated Chilean president Michelle Bachelet said that for Chile to become a full member of Mercosur would mean “back stepping”.“That’s why we are so enthusiastic and push so hard for a Free Trade Association of the Americas, FTAA”, added Ms Bachelet in a long weekend interview with Buenos Aires daily La Nación.
“The difficulty has always been that Chile has economic reforms in place. Becoming a full member of Mercosur would mean back stepping on those reforms”, she underlined.
“What is needed is a basic FTAA, in which minimum conditions are equivalent for all countries, and from there on keep advancing. An FTAA of this kind would enable all countries to join. That’s why we are enthusiastic and push hard for TFAA”, added the Chilean president.
Mercosur, basically a customs union launched in 1991 fifteen years ago this Monday March 27, experienced an encouraging advance during the first few years and rapidly became a reference for the region.
However, problems began to emerge with the so called asymmetries, (different degrees of development of the members’ economies) and more serious, Mercosur lack of capacity to address and overcome those challenges.
Meantime Washington in the mid nineties launched the idea of a free trade association, on the lines of the North American Free Trade Association, Nafta, extending from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego.
mercosurpress.com
Despite her impressive credentials as a victim of Pinochet, she shows her true intentions.
