Admission of Venezuela is on agenda of upcoming Mercosur meeting

Marcela Rebelo

Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - Yesterday (5), the general undersecretary for South America in the Ministry of Foreign Relations, José Eduardo Felício, underscored three items that will be advanced at the 29th Mercosur Meeting: definitions for the establishment of a Mercosur Parliament, regulation of the Mercosur Structural Convergence Fund, and the admission of Venezuela to the bloc. The meeting will take place in the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo, on Thursday (8) and Friday (9).

According to Felício, there are still Mercosur agreements, such as the Assunción Treaty, that Venezuela must ratify in order to become a member state. "Our intention is to pass the decision determining the steps that Venezuela should follow," he said. The ambassador commented, however, that it is possible for the Venezuelans to emerge from the meeting as "members in the process of adhesion" to the group. Nor did Felício rule out the possibility of Venezuela's immediate participation in some Mercosur activity. "That is a political decision," he emphasized.

Another important topic, according to Felício, is the regulation of the Mercosur Structural Convergence Fund. The ambassador informed that the Fund is expected to have an endowment of US$ 100 million by 2008. Brazil will be responsible for providing 70% of this amount.

Felício said that the Brazilian government expects to transfer US$ 35 million to the Fund next year. He explained that the resources will be used for social or regional development projects in the Mercosur countries. "The idea of the Fund is to deal with infrastructure matters in the smaller Mercosur countries in order to diminish the asymmetries that exist today between the larger economies and the smaller ones," he asserted.

Translation: David Silberstein