The South American Common Market (Mercosur) will start negotiating a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Japan next month, Paraguay's Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez Lezcano acknowledged in an interview with the Nikkei economic newspaper. Paraguay currently holds the rotating presidency of the regional bloc.
An official document from Beijing states that China is ready to negotiate a free trade agreement (FTA) with Mercosur or separately with any member of the bloc. This contentious topic most probably will be included in the bilateral agenda when President Lula da Silva visits China in the near future.
US President Joseph Biden Monday told his Ecuadorian colleague Guillermo Lasso at the White House that his country was interested in strengthening ties with one of its staunchest South American allies.
Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou said in an interview with the BBC that in case or reaching a Free Trade Agreement with China, it would not generate dependence, because in his country politics and economics were separate issues.
Silence prevailed Monday in Montevideo after Uruguay's Foreign Minister Francisco Bustillo Monday welcomed his Brazilian counterpart Carlos França to discuss bilateral issues, particularly a possible 10% reduction of Common External Tariffs among Mercosur members.
The plenary of the leftist coalition Broad Front concluded on Sunday with a motion that postergates de decision over the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Chile, defining to leave the decision on whether or not to support the agreement, delaying the debate to a future plenary whose date is not yet defined. The decision was voted after counting an erroneous sum of the votes in the first instance in which the motion to debate the issue in the plenary had won. However, the votes of the Communist Party of Uruguay (PCU) had been put on the wrong side.
The Conservative Party’s plans for a “no deal” hard Brexit would plunge the UK into immediate recession, cost the British economy £400 billion and wipe 18% off GDP growth by 2030, a leading investment bank has warned.
Uruguayan Vice-President Danilo Astori said Mercosur must decisively address the signing of a free trade agreement with the United States, but also admits that “opportunities must be built”.
Israel and Colombia this week signed in Jerusalem a free trade treaty to increase trade and promote investments in the fields of technology. The treaty which was reached after fifteen years of intense negotiations now needs legislative approval which should be accomplished by early 2014 according to Israeli political sources.
The US-Colombia free trade agreement will enter into force next month, far earlier than expected, as a result of what the Obama administration called historic progress for Colombian worker protections and human rights.