Paraguay is committed to return Mercosur to 'its roots', reach an agreement on some of the original fundamentals, eliminate restrictions to inter-trade and strongly promote the trade accord with the European Union. This is scheduled to take place in the coming six months once Paraguay is handed Mercosur' chair at the group's midyear presidential summit that begins on Thursday in Brasilia.
Uruguay's president Tabare Vazquez is planning to visit India next year, while foreign minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa is scheduled to attend the India-Latin-American conference next October. The move is seen as an effort by Uruguay to increase its trade opportunities and access new markets, given the current difficulties to forge an agreement with the European Union.
The Mercosur Council will establish an action plan at the next Mercosur presidential summit scheduled for 16/17 July in Brasilia, when the group's chair for the next six months will be handed to Paraguay by Brazil. Other issues on the agenda besides making Mercosur more flexible include addressing the 'special regimes' and the 'free trade zones' in the area, revealed Uruguay's foreign minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa.
Mercosur foreign ministers will be meeting in June with the European Union Trade Commissionaire Cecilia Malmstrom to 'assess' the current negotiations for a comprehensive trade and cooperation agreement. The meeting in Brussels will be on the sidelines of the EU-Celac (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) summit, the first at ministerial level since January 2013
There is no sense in holding discussions if both sides are not ready and there are no dates for a meeting of European Union and Mercosur negotiators, revealed the EU External Action Service Director Christian Leffler who nevertheless expects a positive result in the near future.
A member of the European Union assured it is not possible to negotiate an agreement between the EU and Mercosur without Argentina, as the Spanish Government planned after the country’s decision to expropriate YPF.