MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mercosur, India and African nations begin trade and investment talks

Celso Amorim chairs trade talks on the sidelines of the stalled Doha round.

Brazil launched this week in Geneva a round of negotiations to further liberate trade between Mercosur, India and the Union of Nations from Austral Africa with the purpose of ratifying south-south cooperation, while global negotiations in the framework of the Doha Round remain stalled.

“It’s a way to show that we are not standing with crossed arms and that we believe in south-south trade”, said Brazilian Foreign Secretary Celso Amorim during a ministerial meeting Monday of the World Trade Organizations, WTO.

According to Brazilian diplomacy the purpose is to create the largest trade block among developing countries, which would be parallel in the event of a Doha Round agreement, that remains frozen because of developed countries refusal to reduce subsidies and support to their agriculture sectors.

Negotiations involve the four full members of Mercosur, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil; India and the African Nations Union made up of South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia.

“We are not going to remain still because it’s an excellent opportunity to look for commercial agreements and options” said Argentine delegate Nestor Stancanelli confirming Mercosur determination to negotiate with other regions.

United States described the Mercosur initiative with India and the African nations as a “political move” to ensure greater bargaining power mainly to the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China).

South Africa’s Trade minister Rob Davies revealed that the Brazilian Economic and Social Development bank, BNDES, is involved in a project to finance long term projects in Africa.

“The trade initiative is long term, and we must advance gradually, step by step; infrastructure projects are essential to develop energy and a good transport system”, pointed out Davies.