Venezuela has taken a formal decision to exit from the Group of Three (G3), an economic bloc that also includes Mexico and Colombia, the Venezuelan foreign ministry said on Sunday.
"Venezuela assumes with full freedom the challenge of establishing policies which can target productive development and protect the development of its national industry," the ministry said in a statement.
Venezuela decided to leave the G3 on May 22. Under the G3 pact, Sunday is the last day of a 180-day cooling-off period for a member nation to reconsider its exit.
In May, Venezuela said that a 1994 agreement between Mexico and Colombia had created a neo-liberal scheme which had destroyed economies in the region.
The exit from the G3 will allow Venezuela to move forward on its way to join the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), which now includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Venezuela was disgruntled with the G3 accord because it forced the country to offer large multi-national companies the same treatment as small- and medium- sized producers, the ministry said.
Venezuela's mining sector, in particular, has suffered a great deal due to this arrangement, with serious consequences for poor Venezuelan families, it noted.
Furthermore, the ministry added, Venezuela is reduced to a mere provider of raw materials within the G3, which has created severe economic imbalances.
The G3 accord was signed in 1994 in the Colombian city of Cartagena de las Indias and came into force in 1995.
Source: Xinhua |
|
