On 25 June 1996 the Mercosur member countries Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay plus Bolivia and Chile expressed in the Declaration of Potrero de los Funes their full support for Argentina´s rights of sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands, South Georgia and South Sandwich and their surrounding maritime spaces, sending a clear message from the subregional bloc on the need to find a solution to the controversy. Their full support was reiterated in the Asuncion Declaration of 15 June 1999.
On 19 January 2007, the Mercosur member countries and associated countries issued a joint press statement:
"We renew the commitment with the "Declaración sobre Malvinas" signed at Potrero de los Funes on the 25 June 1996, reaffirming our support for the legitimate rights of the Argentine Republic in the sovereignty dispute regarding the Malvinas Question. Likewise, we recall the regional interest in seeing the protracted dispute between the Argentine Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland over the Malvinas Islands, South Georgia Islands and South Sandwich Islands and the maritime surrounding areas reach a prompt solution in conformity with the resolutions and declarations of the United Nations and the Organisation of American States".