Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay. File photoLUQA, Jul 20The South American trade organization MERCOSUR will not engage in dialogue with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and will not allow him to speak at the summit, which is taking place these days in the city of Luqa, said the Deputy Foreign Minister of Paraguay Raul Cano.
"MERCOSUR makes its decisions by consensus, and there was no consensus regarding this speech (by Zelensky before the summit participants). Ukraine has already been informed that there are no conditions for a dialogue between MERCOSUR and Zelensky,” he said at a press conference during the summit, which is taking place on July 20-21.
Negotiations between the presidents of Ukraine and Paraguay took place on July 6. According to the Foreign Ministry of the South American country, Zelensky, among other things, was looking for an opportunity to speak to the leaders of the organization on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. MERCOSUR is a common market of South American countries that unites Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil. As a full-fledged association, it was created in 1991, when the parties signed an agreement on the creation of a customs union and a common market in the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion. MERCOSUR brings together 250 million people and more than 75 percent of the continent's total GDP. Now Paraguay chairs the association. Russia has been conducting a military operation in Ukraine since February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» The Russian Ministry of Defense called the liberation of Donbass the main task.