MERCOSUR Group:
European Union (EU)-Mercosur trade agreement enforced amid farmers’ fears of unfair competition.
- The Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR for its Spanish initials) is a South American regional economic organization.
- It was created in 1991 by signing the Treaty of Asunción.
- Objective: Free movement of goods, services, capital and people and it became a customs union in 1995.
- Member countries:
- It originally comprised Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay as its members.
- Bolivia and Venezuela joined it later. (Venezuela has been suspended since 2016).
- Headquarters: Montevideo, Uruguay.
- Its official working languages are Spanish and Portuguese.
- Governance of MERCOSUR Group:
- Common Market Council: It is the bloc’s highest decision-making body, and provides a high-level forum for coordinating foreign and economic policy.
- The group consists of the foreign and economic ministers of each member state, or their equivalent, and decisions are made by consensus.
- The group’s presidency rotates every six months among its full members.
- India and MERCOSUR: India and MERCOSUR signed a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) in 2004.
