MERCOSUR:
Bolivia became a full time member of MERCOSUR groupings in order to increase trades with member countries.
- MERCOSUR or the Southern Common Market is an economic and political bloc of Latin America.
- It originally comprised Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay as its members. Bolivia and Venezuela joined it later. (Venezuela has been suspended since December 1, 2016).
- It was created in 1991 by signing the Treaty of Asuncion, an accord calling for the “free movement of goods, services, and factors of production between countries.”
- It aims to promote economic integration, free trade, and the movement of goods, services, and people among member countries.
- The bloc’s highest decision-making body, the Common Market Council, provides a high-level forum for coordinating foreign and economic policy.
- Its official working languages are Spanish and Portuguese.
- India and MERCOSUR signed the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) in 2004, which allowed India to forge closer economic ties with one of the world’s largest trade blocs.
- Headquarter: Montevideo, Uruguay.
