Brussels, 31/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - The economic competitiveness and social inclusiveness of the information society in Europe and in Mercosur countries were on the agenda of the talks, on 30 and 31 January, between Commissioner Viviane Reding and Brazilian and Argentinian Ministers. The European Commission wants to strengthen cooperation with Brazil and Argentina in several technological areas, particularly the development of practical applications of these technologies for Latin America. “I am looking for an Information Society crossing continental borders, and I see a strong potential in the relationship between the EU and Mercosur. The EU is Mercosur's most important trading partner and is already supporting the partnership with Mercosur in Information Society technologies under out research and cooperation programme,” said Mrs Reding. Currently, research organisations in Brazil, Argentina and other Mercosur countries (Paraguay and Uruguay) participate in various projects under Europe's Information and Society Technologies (IST) research programme, including mobile broadcasting, open source software, power line communications and satellite communications. These research projects can also benefit European companies, by helping them gain access to Latin America's markets and by exchanging best practices. The EU's IST programme has a budget of 3.6 billion euro for 2002-2006, and cooperation should be stepped up in the next IST programme, which runs from 2007 to 2013. The EU and Latin America also cooperate in the @LIS programme, which aims to harness information society technologies to boost economic competitiveness and social inclusion. This programme, with a budget of 77.5 million euro, 63.5 million euro of which is financed by the European Commission, aims to build a long-term partnership between the two regions in the information society field and provides for dialogue on policy and regulatory aspects, the development of standards, the implementation of demonstration projects for civil society, a network of regulators and the interconnection of research and education networks. Mrs Reding also raised the possibilities of cooperation on terrestrial digital television to exploit the full potential of this key technology for social cohesion and industrial development.