MERCOSUR Group

About MERCOSUR Group:

• 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.