Mercosur

Mercosur, or the Southern Common Market, is a South American integration bloc founded in 1991 by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. It coordinates trade and political cooperation among member states.

Protocol of Ouro Preto: The 1994 protocol that gave Mercosur its current institutional structure and international legal personality. It translated the founding project into a defined institutional system.
Brazil–Argentina integration: The process of economic and political rapprochement between Brazil and Argentina, especially from the 1980s onward. Their bilateral agreements supplied the foundation for a wider regional bloc.
Intra-Mercosur trade: Trade in goods and services among Mercosur member states. Reducing barriers within this trade area is a core purpose of the bloc.
Andean Community: A South American integration organization whose members cooperate on trade, mobility, and regional policy. It offers a neighboring integration model with a different membership and institutional history.
Common External Tariff: A shared tariff framework applied by a customs union to imports from outside its membership. It is a central instrument in Mercosur’s effort to operate as a customs union.
Brazil–Argentina Integration and Economic Cooperation Program: A 1986 bilateral program that advanced cooperation and trade integration between Brazil and Argentina. It established practical precedents later incorporated into Mercosur’s founding project.
Mercosur Residence Agreement: An agreement enabling nationals of participating South American states to obtain residence in one another’s territories. It extends integration beyond commerce by facilitating regional residence and work.
Pacific Alliance: A Latin American trade and integration initiative founded by Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. Its outward-oriented trade approach is often contrasted with Mercosur’s regional customs-union project.
Mercosur Parliament: A regional parliamentary body whose members represent Mercosur states and whose decisions are generally consultative. It adds a representative forum without replacing national legislatures.
Treaty of Asunción: The 1991 treaty that established Mercosur and set its goal of creating a common market. The treaty formally launched the bloc with four founding countries.

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