MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mercosur and EU resume talks

Mercosur and European Union representatives resumed talks this week in Brussels in accordance with the timetable agreed November 12 that schedules a final understanding for October 2004 when a political, economic and cooperation association agreement between both blocks should be ready to be signed.

The eleventh EU-Mercosur round is presided by Uruguayan Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Guillermo Valles (Uruguay holds Mercosur chair until January) and Pascal Lamy EU Trade Commissar.

According to the roadmap agreed last November, during this "technical" round delegates will try to agree on how to address the controversial agriculture negotiations that have stalled the talks so far.

Although delegates were cautious about advancing strategies, reliable EU sources indicated that the route map has been split into two legs: the first leading to the EU, Latinamerica and Caribbean heads of state and government summit to be held in Guadalajara, Mexico next May, and the second extending to October.

"From now until May all efforts must concentrate in ways to reduce obstacles to trade in agriculture commodities, industrial produce and services", emphasized EU sources.

Other issues in the agenda are competition, origin rules and political dialogue.

"This is a very technical meeting and special task groups have been named to address specific issues. Although the political will is there, extremely sensitive issues such as agriculture continue to be present", said a Mercosur source.

The talks are expected to last for a week. Task force to combat illegal fishing Chile, Australia, Namibia, New Zealand and Britain have agreed the creation of a task group at ministerial level to address illegal fishing in the high seas, according to sources from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, (OECD), with main offices in Paris. The group will be headed by UK Environment Secretary of State Elliot Morley who was named president, and Fisheries representatives from the other four country members.

The objective of the group is to elaborate proposals in 18 to 24 months time that are "politically applicable" and "financially viable" to combat the exhaustion of marine resources and illegal fishing.

The group was created during this year's third and last OECD meeting on sustainable development that includes government officials, international representatives, private sector delegates and NGOs.

Simon Upton a former New Zealand Environment Minister addressing the meeting said that 18% of world marine resources are over exploited and 9% exhausted and in the verge of complete collapse.

According to an OECD paper, false statements and incomplete information in many countries make it difficult to asses the true magnitude of the phenomenon and the damage could actually be even worse than expected.

The OECD paper also points out that it's not the lack of legislation that protects poachers, but rather the proliferation of international agreements, many of which do not impede countries from extending convenience flags to foreign vessels as well as denial to closely monitor their activities.