MERCOSUR's Insertion into a Globalized World

This paper formed part of a Conference "Mercosur: In Search of a New Agenda"; held in the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro in June 2003. The purpose of the Conference was to was to examine future directions for Mercosur in light of emerging political dynamics pointing to renewed interest in deepening the initiative after a turbulent 1999-2002. The papers and the conference were supported by the Integration and Regional Programs Department of the Inter-American Development Bank through its Special Initiative on Trade and Integration. The Department is grateful for the collaboration of the Foundation and in particular to Professor Renato Flores. Mr. García Pelufo¿s thesis states that Mercosur will recover under stable conditions simply because its originating reasons and motivations are still current. In view of similar regional and global conditions it is to be expected that the Southern Cone countries will generate the same responses from the previous decade vis à vis similar facts. However, the trauma of recession will leave its consequences. It will probably stimulate the reformulation of an integration model that will contemplate the need to coordinate Mercosur international insertion on a compatible basis, and will take into account the size asymmetry among Mercosur members and the fact that the larger country lacks a currency solid enough to become the reference for the bloc.