Argentina proposed the gradual elimination of the Mercosur Common External Tariff, AEC, double charge and hopes the initiative will receive a first approval before Buenos Aires has to turn over the rotating chair of the trade group to Brazil next August.
Brazilian and European business leaders gathered in Brasilia urged their governments to reach an “ambitious and balanced” trade agreement between Mercosur and the EU, and give first priority to the conclusion of the WTO Doha round talks.
Mercosur full member Paraguay is now between the world’s eight top exporters of beef, with prospects of increasing that position as meat quality increases boosted by improved breeding and better sanitary conditions.
Argentina announced it would slap anti-dumping tariffs for six months on gas compressors from Brazil, a decision which is expected to lead to new trade clashes among Mercosur largest members.
The recent resumption of negotiations for a cooperation and free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union will be at the heart of the EU/Brazil summit scheduled to begin Wednesday in Brasilia.
Unasur (Union of South American Nations) Secretary General Nestor Kirchner said on Tuesday that the regional block will become “the political complement which is missing with Mercosur”.
The first week of negotiations in years between the European Union and Mercosur to reach a political and trade association agreement that took place in Buenos Aires did not end well.
Negotiations for a trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur, re-launched this week in Buenos Aires, could not have a second chapter if the Argentine government insists in restrictions to food imports, said the head of the EU delegation.
Spain's ambitious six-month presidency of the EU was eclipsed by the European debt crisis which thrust the country's fragile economy into the global spotlight and weakened the Spanish government, analysts said.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on his first-ever tour of Latin America proposed a free trade agreement with Mercosur after meeting Wednesday in Brasilia with his Brazilian counterpart Lula da Silva and giving a conference at the Foreign Ministry seat in Itamaraty Palace.