Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan discussed measures to enhance cooperation between ASEAN and Mercosur with his Argentine counterpart Susana Malcorra on April 7.
Buenos Aires (VNA) – Singaporean Foreign Minister⛄ Vivian Balakrishnan discussedmeasures to enhance cooperation between the Association of the Southeast AsianNations (ASEAN) and Southern Common Market (Mercosur) with his Argentinecounterpart Susana Malcorra on Apri💜l 7.
Malcorra invitedBalakrishnan to attend a meeting with his Mercosur counterparts to assess theASEAN-Mercosur cooperation, said a joint statement of the Argentine ForeignMinistry. During his visitto Argentina, Minister Balakrishnan also pledged to boost Singapore’s trade andinvestment with the South American country, as well as support affiliations in education,culture and technical training. In June 2015, theMercosur-ASEAN Chamber of Commerce was launched in Montevideo, Uruguay,followed by the foundation of a research centre two months later. The centreaims to create favourable conditions for promoting trade and economic relationsbetween the two blocs.
Last October, Uruguayan Foreign MinisterRodolfo Nin Novoa led a business delegation of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguayto visit Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia.
Establishedin 1991, Mercosur currently groups Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela andParaguay.
Asthe fifth largest economic bloc of the world and one of the top manufacturersof food, materials and energy, Mercosur boasts a market of 275 millionconsumers and 3.3 trillion USD worth of GDP, accounting for 83 percent of theSouth America’s total. Intra-bloc trade reache♉s nearly 62 billion USD eachyear.-VNA
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Flags of the ASEAN members. (Photo: AFP) 
