Expert: Entry of Venezuela into Mercosur should be properly managed

The membership of Venezuela in the Common Market of the South (Mercosur) implies "managing its incorporation" for the purpose of "protecting the domestic production apparatus," said Eduardo Parcarelli, a professor on economic law and integration at the Central University of Venezuela. 

During the international conference entitled "Venezuela into Mercosur," an event organized by the Venezuelan Council on Foreign Affairs (Covri) and the Higher Institute for International and Diplomatic Studies, the specialist remarked that Venezuela "cannot erect an isolating wall," because said integration is positive. Parcarelli also expressed the need for negotiating longer terms so as to allow the Venezuelan products to be competitive vis-à-vis the ones of other Mercosur member countries.

Meanwhile, Rafael Quirós, a petroleum consultant for the Central Bank of Venezuela and a professor at the UCV, said, "there is no other commodity as important as oil for bolstering and encouraging integration. Everything is related to oil, especially in a region where everything starts and ends in a barrel. "Oil is the main ingredient of integration."

Translated by Jhean Cabrera