Indeed hardly likely to lead to a reduction of tarrifs on imports into Argentina as Mercosur is now more about consolidating protectionism for Brazil and Argentina and Uruguay just has to play along:
"Mercosur doubles list of goods that can have tariffs raised unilaterally 35% by each member"
http://en.mercopress.com/2012/06/30...tariffs-raised-unilaterally-35-by-each-member
Inclusion of Venezuela maybe seems just like gesture politics but consider possible consequences:
Likelyhood that the pipeline Venezuela to Argentina will go ahead?
http://www.bnamericas.com/news/oilandgas/Petrobras,_PDVSA_commit_to_50Mm3_d_pipeline
OK so supposed to have opened in 2013
Likelyhood of further unfettered development in the rain forests?
But after the monumental failure of Rio +20 to consolidate on the towering success for the Earth Rio Summit is the best that 2012 can offer to the sustainability of the planet is the future prospect of more paved highways though Las Amazonas to improve the infrastructure of connectivity within the extended trade bloc?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120531112618.htm
Highway Through Amazon Worsens Effects of Climate Change, Provides Mixed Economic Gains
ScienceDaily (May 31, 2012) — Paving a highway across South America is providing lessons on the impact of road construction elsewhere.
That what's what a University of Florida researcher and his international colleagues have determined from analyzing communities along the Amazonian portion of the nearly 4,200-mile Interoceanic Highway, a coast-to-coast road that starts at ports in Brazil and will eventually connect to ones in Peru.
The results of their five-year study provide a holistic picture of the social, environmental and economic effects of the highway project, including relationships with climate change. Among the findings:
Highway paving facilitates migration and population growth in communities, which can result in forest clearing and conflicts over natural resources.
Highway paving has left the Amazon rainforest more vulnerable to clearing with fire, which results in carbon emissions.
Improved access to markets may give people an economic boost, however, financial security is dependent on access to a range of diverse raw materials whose availability is declining in many areas.
"The vast majority of road studies look at only one of those pieces," said Stephen Perz, a UF sociologist and lead author on the paper, which was published in March in the journal Regional Environmental Change. "But it is necessary to consider what is gained and what is lost by paving highways."
