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Brazil wants to speed Mercosur/Pacific Alliance free trade understanding

Friday, July 25th 2014 - 06:22 UTC
Full article 37 comments
Ferreira Simoes said the issue would be discussed at the coming Mercosur summit in Caracas 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.

Top Comments

Disclaimer & comment rules
  • ManRod

    nightmare... we would be flooded by mercosur products, free access for their products to asia, but they wouldn't buy anything from us or impose trade blocades. We don't need them to export to Europe. In what aspect would we as Pacific Alliance profit from them?

    Jul 25th, 2014 - 09:30 am 0
  • Conqueror

    @1. You're not supposed to profit. Mercosur is falling apart as a trade organisation because certain parties only see it as political. How long has it been trying to get an agreement with the EU? Who holds it back? Who has most members? Who will be the first to “suffer” as Paraguay suffered? How long before a PA member has a mercosur member, or the whole of mercosur, interfering in its internal affairs?

    Jul 25th, 2014 - 10:51 am 0
  • Leiard

    How can have an agreement with Mercosur when Mercosur's own members cannot reach free trade agreement amongst themselves ?

    Jul 25th, 2014 - 11:30 am 0
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