Venezuela joined Mercosur Trade Bloc on July 31,2012

Recently on 31 July 2012, South American country ‘ VENEZUELA’ joined MERCOSUR trade bloc.

1. Venezuela had signed a membership agreement on 17 June 2006 (but its accession was blocked by the Senate of Paraguay)

2. Full membership for Venezuela became effective on 31 July 2012.

3. Paraguay is suspended from Mercosur on 22 June 2012 for the violation of the Democratic Clause of Mercosur i.e Impeachment of Fernando Lugo.

Country :Venezuela
Capital: Caracas

Government:Federal presidential constitutional republic

President:Hugo Chávez

Vice President:Elías Jaua

National language:Spanish

Venezuela has some of the largest oil and natural gas reserves in the world, and consistently ranks among the top ten world crude oil producers.

For more details:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-19069591

advantages-disadvantages-MERSOCUR-membership:

http://voices.yahoo.com/advantages-disadvantages-mersocur-membership-5680996.html

Mercosur or Mercosul (Motto:"Our North is the South") is an economic and political agreement among Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela. It is Founded in 1991 by the Treaty of Asuncion, which was later amended and updated by the 1994 Treaty of Ouro Preto.

The Asuncion Treaty is based on the doctrine of the reciprocal rights and obligations of the member states.

Its purpose is to promote free trade and the fluid movement of goods, people, and currency.

Objectives:

1. The free transit of produced goods, services and factors among the member states. Among other things, this includes the elimination of customs rights and lifting of nontariff restrictions on the transit of goods or any other measures with similar effects;

2. Fixing of a common external tariff (CET) and adopting of a common trade policy with regard to nonmember states or groups of states, and the coordination of positions in regional and international commercial and economic meetings;

3. Coordination of macroeconomic and sectorial policies of member states relating to foreign trade, agriculture, industry, taxes, monetary system, exchange and capital, services, customs, transport and communications, and any others they may agree on, in order to ensure free competition between member states;

4. The commitment by the member states to make the necessary adjustments to their laws in pertinent areas to allow for the strengthening of the integration process.

About MERCOSUR :

http://www.cfr.org/trade/mercosur-south-americas-fractious-trade-bloc/p12762

Source:wikipedia.org