Spanish
Buenos Aires, July 3 (EFE).- Mercosur reiterated this Thursday that it is confident of signing the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) before the end of this year to then begin the parliamentary ratification process of the agreement by each of the member countries.
When presenting a management report of the last semester to the heads of state of the South American bloc, the Argentine Foreign Minister, Gerardo Werthein, indicated that Mercosur has "actively promoted the technical and legal work to achieve the prompt signing, in the next semester, of the Strategic Association Agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, concluded last December".
After multiple rounds of negotiations initiated in 2000, Mercosur - a bloc founded in 1991 by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay - and the EU reached a political agreement to achieve a free trade agreement by the end of 2024.
The presentation of the final legal text and its translation into the official languages of the EU is now expected, followed by the signing of the agreement and its submission to parliamentary bodies for ratification, a requirement for the pact to enter into force.
In some European countries, such as France, there is still resistance to validating the pact, particularly regarding the agricultural chapter, where South Americans are highly competitive.
"We celebrate the relaunch of the bond with the European Union, convinced that the agreement between both blocs represents a historic opportunity to consolidate a strategic partnership, based on the complementarity of our economies," said the Argentine president, Javier Milei, in the plenary session of the Mercosur's semi-annual summit of heads of state, held this Thursday in Buenos Aires.
On the eve, Mercosur announced the closure of negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA, for its acronym in English, composed of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland).
"I am sure that before the end of this year we will sign the agreements with the EU and EFTA, creating one of the largest free trade areas in the world," stated in turn the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio da Silva, who assumed the six-month presidency of Mercosur.
In the first half of the year, Mercosur also made progress in negotiations with the United Arab Emirates, with a view to the possible signing of a trade agreement by the end of this year.
The South American bloc is also working on deepening an FTA with Israel and a preferential tariff agreement with India.
Furthermore, Mercosur has defined in the first half of the year the roadmap for a trade agreement with El Salvador and maintained contacts with the Dominican Republic and Panama to begin trade negotiations with both countries.
Lula da Silva anticipated that he will also seek to advance negotiations with Canada, update existing agreements with Colombia and Ecuador.
"It is time for Mercosur to look towards Asia, the dynamic center of the world economy. Our participation in global value chains will benefit from a greater rapprochement with Japan, China, Korea, India, Vietnam, and Indonesia," added the Brazilian president.
