UN General Assembly
1995

Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. We recognize that as the international situation stands our development will largely depend on our own efforts. We attach great importance to international cooperation for development, but are aware that our problems will not disappear merely through external assistance. Today, the major challenge before us is the need to increase know-how and to apply it to development. Today, the only comparative advantages are those derived from scientific and technological progress, and a country’s relative competitiveness will be directly linked to its ability to generate, adapt and apply its know-how and to provide permanent training for the population. In this context, the countries of the Common Market of the South, known as MERCOSUR, are aware that according to the new world scheme integration processes are a fundamental aspect of an ability to compete efficiently with other economic blocs. We are promoting integration in the context of a philosophy of open regionalism. We are not trying to turn MERCOSUR into an ivory tower — quite the contrary, because as we strengthen and expand it we are