RIO DE JANEIRO, July 17 (Xinhua) -- The Mercosur countries should focus on insitutional reforms and create a common tariffs scheme, said Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro at the bloc's summit on Wednesday.
The summit marks the rotation of the Mercosur presidency to Brazil which will be in charge of the group's leadership for the next six months.
Bolsonaro said that he will work to modernize Mercosur "without an ideological bias."
"I reaffirm my government's commitment to the modernization and opening of our bloc, making it a tool for trading with the world without an ideological bias, which I criticized much as a congressman," Bolsonaro said at the summit.
He also celebrated the signing of an agreement to end roaming tariffs in the Mercosur, so that a person no longer needs to pay roaming tariffs for their cell phone when traveling between countries in the bloc.
"That is an example of how Mercosur can change citizens' lives for the better," the president said.
The agreement needs to be validated by the member countries' parliaments.