MONTEVIDEO, Feb. 13 -- Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez and Argentine President Mauricio Macri on Wednesday expressed their wish to revive regional integration following a meeting in the Uruguayan department of Colonia.
During the meeting, both leaders evaluated the situation of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), according to a joint statement released after the meeting.
Vazquez and Macri "agreed, because of its importance, to revive the process of regional integration and its modernization with respect to prospects and procedures to carry out trade agreements with countries in the outlying region or with other regional blocs," the statement said.
Mercosur, established by the Treaty of Asuncion in 1991 and Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994, was aimed at promoting free trade and the free flow of goods, people and currency. Its full members include Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
In addition, they also agreed to "continue holding periodical presidential meetings or between the presidential teams as a way to keep evaluating the progress of the issues that had been raised previously," it added.
"Finally, they stressed the excellent relations maintained by both nations and governments along the two banks of the Rio de la Plata," according to the statement.
In addition, the two leaders "analyzed the political and social situation in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela."