Brazil will take over the rotating presidency of the Southern Common Market.

On Wednesday, Brazilian President Lula da Silva arrived in Argentina to participate in the summit of the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR), scheduled to take place in Buenos Aires on July 3 and 4.

RELATED:

Lula Fails to Sway Macron on EU-MERCOSUR Deal

Lula is not expected to hold a bilateral meeting with President Javier Milei, but he did express interest in visiting former President Cristina Fernandez, who is currently under house arrest. The meeting between Lula and Fernandez is expected to take place on Thursday, pending authorization from Argentine judicial authorities for the Workers’ Party leader to visit her residence.

The MERCOSUR summit began with a regular meeting of the Common Market Council (CMC), the political decision-making body of the South American bloc. The council is expected to approve a series of proposals on tariffs and trade.

This meeting includes the participation of Foreign Ministers Gerardo Werthein (Argentina), Mauro Vieira (Brazil), Mario Lubetkin (Uruguay), and Ruben Ramirez (Paraguay). Bolivian diplomat Huascar Ajata is attending on behalf of his country.

Also on Wednesday, meetings are expected among the finance ministers and central bank presidents of both full and associate member states.

The summit agenda continues Thursday with the plenary session of MERCOSUR presidents, during which Argentina will hand over the bloc’s rotating presidency to Brazil.

Meanwhile, Argentine President Milei — who has shown no interest in improving relations with Lula — is preparing to host the MERCOSUR heads of state at the San Martin Palace.

Argentina reportedly seeks to finalize bilateral agreements with participating countries while avoiding commitments within MERCOSUR itself. Milei has previously called the integration bloc an “ideological prison.”

At the last MERCOSUR summit in Montevideo, the far-right Argentine leader criticized progressive Latin American presidents such as Lula and Fernandez for opposing U.S.-backed plans in 2005 to join the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), a project aimed at consolidating U.S. trade dominance in the region.

“If a bloc doesn’t facilitate trade, then what’s the point?” Milei said at the time, referring to MERCOSUR.

In response, Lula expressed visible frustration and even declined to appear in the official group photo. The Brazilian leader reaffirmed his contrasting vision: for him, integration must be guided by social justice, environmental responsibility, and efforts to reduce inequality.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE – teleSUR

IN THIS ARTICLE