An agreement has been signed that will permit intelligence agencies in Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay), plus Bolivia, Chile and Peru to work together to combat piracy and contraband, especially cigarettes.
Brazilian Minister of Justice, Marcio Thomaz Bastos, says that the effects of piracy and contraband goods have been devastating in Brazil. “This is something that stopped being a game and turned into a national plague,” he declared.
Bastos went on to say that the agreement just signed by the nine countries to fight the problem is to be a work in progress.
“We will strengthen our ties, exchange information and learn to work together. Then we will operate jointly so that our efforts are more eficient,” said the minister.
In April, the Interministerial Committee to Combat Piracy and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) held a meeting in Brasília with organizations from the Mercosur member-countries (Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Brazil, together with associate members, Chile and Bolivia) to discuss copyrights and the war on piracy in Latin America.
The purpose of the meeting is to seek a common agreement for the region, based on a debate over proposals, as well as to promote training and technical cooperation.
“The main goal of this meeting is to work out an exchange of experiences with respect to the observance of intellectual property rights, more specifically in relation to combatting piracy in the Mercosur countries, Bolivia, and Chile,” said Isabella Pimentel, consultant at the WIPO office of Economic Development for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Agência Brasil
Translator: Allen Bennett
