Puerto Iguazú (Argentina),7/8/2004 - Today, at the 26th Mercosur Summit, Brazil takes over as temporary president of Mercosur. The rotating presidency changes every six months. Brazil's challenge will be to strengthen the economic block and increase trade with the rest of the world.

At the 25th Mercosur Summit, last year in Montevideo, the presidents of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay approved a timetable for targets to be reached between 2004 and 2006. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's now has to put the timetable into practice and get the action plans off the ground so Mercosur can find solutions to the main problems it faces.

One of the first targets is the consolidation of the customs union joining Mercosur members so as to permit the free circulation of goods under mutually agreed upon common rules. This year's summit is expected to officialize the creation of a Permanent Review Board (Tribunal Permanente de Revisão) which will have the final word on internal Mercosur trade disputes. At the moment, such disputes often wind up in international forums, such as the World Trade Organization.

Another target is to improve the block's Common External Tariffs (TEC), which consists of import surtaxes levied on goods from outside the member nations.

Repórteres:Gabriela Guerreiro e Carolina Pimentel
(Translator:Allen Bennett)