A Cooperação Sul-Sul no Mercosul

Abstract

The United Nations (UN) recognized the interconnection between the development of South-South Cooperation (SSC) and the multiplication of regional integration mechanisms, mainly in Latin America and the Caribbean, since the first decade of the 21st century (A/66/229). In South America, this context coincided with the coming to power of progressive governments in several countries, which established SSC and Latin American regional integration as priorities in their foreign policy guidelines, with emphasis on the role of Mercosur. Although international cooperation has been present in Mercosur since its inception, it is in this political context that became known as the pink wave (2003-2015) that SSC became a priority within the bloc. This process led to the gradual institutionalization of SSC in Mercosur with the establishment, in 2008, of the High Level Group for the elaboration of a South-South Cooperation Program, whose mission was to elaborate the conceptual, methodological and operational bases of a program of cooperation in strategic sectors; in 2012 from the International Cooperation Group (GCI) to coordinate Mercosur's technical cooperation; in 2014, of the new International Cooperation Policy and; in 2018, of the Strategy on Cooperation in Mercosur for the period 2018-2021. However, this context has changed and, more recently, both phenomena in the region have lost priority in the political agenda of shift governments, without, however, being extinguished by the blue tide. This work aims to discuss the potentialities and limitations of SSC as a means for autonomous regional integration in Latin America, in this context of celebration of Mercosur's 30th anniversary.