Mercosur 

-Bharati (FDM3)
 South America

Mercosur is South America's leading trading bloc(group of

countries).
Purpose
Its purpose is to
promote free trade and
the fluid movement of
goods, peoples, and
currency
Full members: 
Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay

Full member pending ratification(approval): 

Venezuela

Associate members: 
Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru

Headquarter: Montevideo, Uruguay

Montevideo
Official languages: Spanish, Portuguese

Combined GDP: US$ 1.1 trillion

Headquarters: Montevideo
Mercosur was set up in March 1991 by Argentina,
Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
 Ceremony of pulling up Mercosur's flag
Brazil and Argentina are Mercosur's economic giants.
Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are associate
members; they can join free-trade agreements(agreed to
eliminate tariffs, quotas and preferences on most goods and
services traded between them) but remain outside the bloc's
customs union(Trade agreement by which a group of
countries charges a common set of tariffs to the rest of the
world while allowing free trade among themselves). Moves
to include Chile as a full member were suspended after
Santiago signed a free-trade deal with the US in 2002.
Mercosur tariff policies regulate imports and
exports and the bloc can arbitrate(sort out) in
trade disputes among its members.
In the longer term, Mercosur aims to create
a continent-wide free-trade area, and the
creation of a Mercosur development bank
has been mooted(discussed).
LEADERS
The Mercosur presidency rotates between member states
every six months.
Mercosur institutions include the policy-making Common
Market Council and the Common Market Group, which
implements policies and monitors compliance with the
council's decisions.
A Mercosur parliament was inaugurated in December 2006. It
began meeting in May 2007 in the Uruguayan capital
Montevideo.
Argentina Brazil

Paraguay Uruguay:
Population
Argentina: 40million
Brazil: 191million
Paraguay: 6.2million
Uruguay:3.3million
GDP
Argentina: $328.465billion
Brazil: $1.575trillion
Paraguay: $15.977billion
Uruguay: $32.186billion
Currency
Argentina: Peso
Brazil: Brazil real (1 Brazil real = 0.574713 U.S. $)
Paraguay: Guarani
Uruguay: Uruguayan peso
National Anthem
Argentina: Himno Nacional Argentino
Brazil: Himno Nacional Brasileiro
Paraguay: Paraguayos, República o Muerte 
Uruguay: Himno Nacional Uruguayo(longest national
anthem in terms of duration with 105 bars of music- about five minutes)
Literacy Rate
Argentina: 97.6%
Brazil: 90%
Paraguay: 94.6%
Uruguay: 98%
Major Cities

Argentina
Buenos Aires
Cordoba
La Plata
Mar del Plata
Mendoza
Rosario
San Miguel de Tucuman
San Carlos de Bariloche
Major Cities

Brazil:
Brasilia
Rio de Janeiro
Manaus
Salvador
Recife
Major Cities
Paraguay :
Asuncion
Ciudad del Este
Concepcion
Encarnacion
Pedro Juan Caballero
Pilar
Rosario
San Pedro
Villarica
Major Cities

Uruguay :
Montevideo
Salto
Paysandu
Rivera
Issues
1
Mercosur has been riven by disputes among its members.
When Brazil's car industry became increasingly competitive,
aided by the devaluation of its currency in 1999, Argentina
responded by imposing tariffs on Brazilian steel imports. The
spat was resolved in December 2000 when the two countries
signed a bilateral agreement (agreement that regulates
imports by setting levels for consolation, growth rates and base
levels , seeks to control imports by means of quotas) to end
the crisis.
2
In 2006, Argentina and the bloc's smallest country Uruguay
clashed over plans to build two large pulp mills along the
border - the biggest foreign investments Uruguay had ever
attracted. Argentina said it feared pollution and the impact on
tourism and fishing.
The matter went to the International Court of Justice (ICJ),
which ruled in favor of Uruguay. Argentina pledged to
continue its fight against the mills.
3
The bloc's smaller members, Paraguay and Uruguay, complain
of restricted access to markets in Argentina and Brazil and
have sought to set up bilateral trade deals outside Mercosur.
The organization's rules forbid this.
4
There is also the long-outstanding issue of Venezuela's
membership. The country was accepted as a full member in
July 2006, pending ratification by the other member states,
but 4 years later its status remained in limbo(no further
actions taken) as Paraguay had not yet officially approved the
decision. This was mainly on account of objections raised by
the Paraguayan Senate, which has expressed doubts over the
democratic credentials of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
5
Critics have accused Mercosur of becoming politicized and
moving away from its free-trade origins. Talks to secure a
trade accord with the EU began in 1999 but were suspended
in 2004, with subsidies for European farmers and tariffs on
industrial goods being among the stumbling blocks. The two
blocs agreed to resume negotiations on a free trade
agreement at talks in Madrid in May 2010, despite opposition
from several key European nations including France.
6
Negotiations on a planned, US-backed Free Trade Area of the
Americas (FTAA) are similarly mired, with some Mercosur
leaders rejecting US free-market policies.
Thank You!