BUENOS AIRES Mexican President-Elect Vicente Fox and Argentine President Fernando de la Rua said on Tuesday they plan to forge closer commercial ties between Mexico and South America's Mercosur trade bloc.
"I have extended an invitation for the December 1 so we can hold subsequent working meetings to discuss closer ties with Mercosur," said Fox, who is due to be sworn in Dec. 1 as the first Mexican president in 71 years not to come from the institutional revolutionary party.
"There is a concrete invitation by the Mercosur nations to initiate negotiations to create a free-trade agreement with Mexico," Fox told reporters at the Argentine presidential residence Olivos, or the Olive Grove.
Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay form the world's third-largest trade bloc, Mercosur, whose 210 million people produce more than $1 trillion in goods and services.
Bolivia and Chile are associate members.
Chile agreed last month to join as a full member after setting a timetable for its inclusion by December.
"I believe negotiations will take place basically with the next (Fox) government. So it's difficult for this to start before the end of the year but the intent on both our parts is to start as soon as possible," Argentine Economy Minister Jose Luis Machinea told Reuters.
Mercosur member nations are key food exporters. Brazil is the world's largest sugar producer and biggest grower and exporter of coffee.
Brazil and Argentina are the world's second- and third-largest soybean producers and a quarter of the world's cattle herd feeds on the grasslands of Mercosur member nations.
Mercosur has sought to forge free-trade ties with the European Union and with the U.S.-led hemispheric free trade area of the Americas but has made only incremental advances.
"I explained to Mr. Fox our desire to open up new markets everywhere in the world," De la Rua said.
"As pro tempore president of the FTAA talks I'm saying that if Mercosur can advance into the Mexican market that would be a significant step forward," the Argentine president added.
Washington has called Mercosur an ally in its attempts to create a free trade area from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego but many economists are doubtful the deal can be reached by the 2005 deadline since U.S. Congress denied U.S. President Bill Clinton fast-track negotiating authority.
April's Buenos Aires declaration whereby Mercosur members will set common debt, deficit and inflation targets starting in March, 2001, was hailed as a relaunching of the Customs Union onto a path toward a European Union-like common market.
Government officials from the four member nations and Chile met in Buenos Aires on Tuesday to iron out details of the macroeconomic convergence plan.
"For the first time we are working on harmonizing our financial, fiscal and inflation targets," Argentine Consumer Defense Secretary Carlos Winograd said.
"We are now defining for the first time which economic indicators will be part of our common goals," Winograd said.
Economists have said the convergence plan, backed by domestic fiscal responsibility laws and International Monetary Fund commitments, could go a long way to reducing country risk in the Mercosur emerging markets.
(Reuter)