Venezuelan official defends Mercosur entry

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan Mining and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez Monday defended his country's entry into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), saying the move would help Venezuela break off its dependence on US-made imports, a political rival.

Ramirez also said joining South America's largest trade bloc would benefit the country in many other ways.

Venezuela became a full Mercosur member on Monday, 13 days after founding members Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay officially welcomed the nation's entry a ceremony held in Brasilia.

Small and medium-size firms in Mercosur members Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay have already expressed interest in doing business with Venezuela, and that could help bolster the country's exports of manufactured goods, said Ramirez.

Also, Venezuela could benefit from supplying northern Brazil, a market of some 30 million people, with coffee, chocolate and gas, he added.

The official made the remarks as Venezuela's full membership has been criticized both at home and abroad.

Opponents of President Hugo Chavez said Mercosur membership will place the country at a great disadvantage, since it only has oil to export, while other bloc members trade more than 100 different products.

South American neighbor and Mercosur founding member Paraguay also objected to Venezuela's entry, claiming Chavez' policies are not free market enough.

But the other members decided to let Venezuela in after Paraguay was temporarily suspended from the bloc for violating democratic principles when it hastily impeached former President Fernando Lugo. Its suspension is in effect until it holds presidential elections in April 2013.

At a special Mercosur summit in Brasilia July 31, Presidents Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, Cristina Kirchner of Argentina, Jose Mujica of Uruguay and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela hailed bloc's expansion as a positive step for the region's development.

Venezuela's Mercosur entry raises the bloc's combined Gross Domestic Product to $3.3 trillion, or 83.2 percent of South America's total, according to Brazilian Foreign Ministry.

Founded in 1991, Mercosur has significantly boosted trade flow between member countries. In 2011, total trade between Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay reached $104.9 billion, compared to $4.1 billion in 1990.