The President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), suggested this Tuesday (30) that Pix could be expanded to all of South America, in a sign of integration between the countries of the customs bloc.
“Successful national experiences must be shared among the bloc’s countries. Pix, a free and public Brazilian payment system, is an international reference for financial inclusion and digital efficiency. Its architecture can serve as the basis for a payments infrastructure that benefits all Mercosur citizens”, said the president, in a speech at the Mercosur summit, in Paraguay. “Financial integration will reduce costs, strengthen intra-bloc trade, expand the use of local currencies and increase our resilience to external shocks”, he added.
In his speech read at the event, Lula also spoke about the fight against organized crime. He said that the Brazilian government prioritizes “strengthening intelligence and international cooperation to suppress the highest levels of criminal networks and combat drug and weapons trafficking.” He also said that Brazil will pay for the presence of delegates from Mercosur countries for a year in Buenos Aires to “increase coordination in the fight against international drug trafficking and related crimes”.
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After reading the speech, Lula spoke impromptu. He criticized Mercosur and all countries when he said that it was necessary to have “solid institutions” and for the bloc to function independently of political ideologies.
“One of our biggest problems is that we don’t have solid institutions. Mercosur cannot function based on the election of this or that president. Otherwise we will never have a really strong and functioning bloc, depending on the will of a president it works, depending on (another president) it doesn’t work. We will never be able to transform ourselves into an economic bloc with a lot of vitality to have influence in the world”, declared the president.
