MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“Sluggish negotiations”

Agriculture Ministers from Mercosur four full members complained during the group's summit in Buenos Aires about the sluggishness of negotiations to achieve a “genuine opening” of the European Union market to the area's agricultural commodities.

In a release during final deliberations of the Mercosur summit, Agriculture Ministers from Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay expressed their "concern regarding the slow progress, particularly in reference to a genuine proposition to open the European market to agricultural produce".

In another paragraph this time in reference to the inter regional association that Mercosur and the European Union are negotiating, the release says it expects it "becomes effective in competition terms that are not distorted by public policies" in obvious reference to the huge subsidies Brussels grants European farmers.

The four Ministers, Rafael Delpech from Argentina, Marcus Pratini de Moraes from Brazil, Pedro Lino Morel, Paraguay and Gonzalo González from Uruguay are scheduled to meet again on July 20th. in Rio do Janeiro to continue talking about the ongoing negotiations with Europe.

Apparently Mercosur wants to negotiate tariff groups, item by item, in "realistic, effective and feasible" terms.

On Saturday Mercosur agriculture talks were joined by Ministers from associate members, Chile and Bolivia, plus the FAO delegate for Latin America and the Caribbean.

The agenda includes animal sanitary conditions in the region and the next round of the Free Trade of the Americas Association that is sponsored by United State.