U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced that the United States has joined with 12 other nations, (including Mercosur founding members) to support policies that enable agricultural innovation, including genome editing. The International Statement on Agricultural Applications of Precision Biotechnology was released in Geneva at the World Trade Organization Committee on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures.
British Prime Minister Theresa May and Argentine president Mauricio Macri are scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting in the framework of the coming G20 summit to be held in Buenos Aires at the end of the month.
Mercosur is not a priority, and Argentina is not a priority for the new government of Brazil, the priority is to trade with all the world. The strong statement came from Paulo Guedes, signaled as the next Finance minister of president elect Jair Bolsonaro's cabinet and a crucial player in that team since the newly elected leader has admitted a limited knowledge of economics.
Activist Lorent Gomez Saleh has been freed and secretly transferred by Venezuelan authorities to the international airport of Maiquetía, one hour from Caracas, to be “referred” to Spain.
Brazil’s far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro has promised to continue his country's participation in the Mercosur trading bloc but says he will move it away from “ideology”.“The Mercosur has value but it was disfigured by the PT (Brazil's Workers' Party)”, Bolsonaro said at a press conference in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday. “I won’t abandon the Mercosur but it won’t continue to be guided by ideology”, he added.
Negotiators of a free trade deal between the European Union and Mercosur want to wrap up by September, but differences over beef, sugar and the auto industry could dash those hopes, Brazilian foreign minister Aloysio Nunes said. Issues over intellectual property, rules of origin and marine shipping services also need to be nailed down, Nunes said in an interview.
During the conference entitled The democratic challenge to the autocracies of the 21st century in Latin America, organized by the Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (CADAL) on Tuesday at the Senate of Uruguay, the Government of Venezuela was described as a dictatorship and it was exhorted that the democratic governments of the region, especially the Uruguayan government, not be indifferent or accomplices against today’s Latin America’s autocratic governments.
Mercosur and Singapore have started negotiations for a free trade agreement, officials from both sides announced on Monday on the sidelines of the 13th Pacific Alliance Summit held in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Despite EU and Mercosur countries remaining committed to reaching a trade agreement, the European Commission did not endorse the South American bloc’s target to reach an agreement by September, as substantial gaps remain between the two sides.
European companies are urging the European Union to accelerate trade negotiations with Mercosur bloc, in a sign of concern that the 20-year talks could once again fall dormant if they do not reach an accord this week.