MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil wants to speed Mercosur/Pacific Alliance free trade understanding

Ferreira Simoes said the issue would be discussed at the coming Mercosur summit in Caracas

Brazil will propose next Tuesday, in Caracas, during the Mercosur summit that the group and the Pacific Alliance reach an agreement on free trade by the end of the year, according to official sources from Itamaraty.

 Brazil will support the agreement to eliminate tariffs between Mercosur and the Alliance, but advancing it to the end of 2014 instead of 2019, which was the original date in the bilateral negotiations, said Antonio Jose Ferreira Simoes, head of the South America Desk at the Brazilian foreign ministry.

The Brazilian official said the issue would be discussed at the coming Mercosur summit in Caracas, and anticipated that Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico which make up the Pacific Alliance “have already expressed their willingness to work for the liberalization of trade and reduction of tariffs”.

However the Brazilian official admitted that in the event of such an agreement it will also depend on how far the other Mercosur members, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela are willing to advance.

Ferreira Simoes did not detail how many sectors would be involved in the discussions for a free trade understanding but only mentioned the reduction of tariffs for manufacturing and certain agriculture produce.

The Mercosur summit which is held twice annually, has been considerably delayed because of problems with its different members, but at the gathering in Caracas, all presidents from the block will be attending as well as the leaders from Bolivia, Nicaragua, el Salvador and Chile, according to the Venezuelan foreign ministry that is hosting the event.

President Nicolás Maduro indicated that Cristina Fernandez (Argentina), Dilma Rousseff (Brazil), Horacio Cartes (Paraguay), Jose Mujica (Uruguay) and Evo Morales from Bolivia, in the process of incorporation to the group, will be present.

Chile will be represented by president Michelle Bachelet, El Salvador by Sánchez Cerén and Nicaragua by Daniel Ortega.