Brussels, 05/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - Venezuela will host a ministerial meeting mid-November in an effort to consolidate the Latin American bloc's position on market access.
The foreign affairs ministers of the Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela) will meet in Caracas on 15 November to establish a common position on a South American offer on market access, as part of the free-trade negotiations with the EU. The EU has been waiting for this proposal since the beginning of autumn.
Following a meeting of ministers responsible for the economy in South American block countries in Caracas last week, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua indicated that “we have arranged a special meeting to work out what Mercosur will be proposing”. In a joint declaration (not signed by Paraguay), Mercosur countries have reiterated their wish to conclude a free-trade and cooperation agreement with the EU which also “effectively recognises the development disparities between the two blocs”. The declaration promises to establish convergence between member states into a “single position” for a trade offer to be made to the EU and “includes the possibility of putting forward policies that protect the model of development with social inclusion, policies that have enabled Mercosur countries over recent years to tackle social inequality in the region and which have helped stimulate global demand in a context of international crisis”.
At the beginning of October, Brasilia approved the contents of a proposal on the country's offer on market access to the EU as part of the EU-Mercosur negotiations. At an EU ministerial meeting in the middle of last October, Commissioner Karel De Gucht said that he was still “impatiently” awaiting an offer from his South American counterparts (see EUROPE 10951). At the end of January, the Mercosur countries pledged to breathe new life into negotiations with the EU (these have stalled since their relaunch in 2010), by submitting an offer on access to the agricultural and industrial markets by 1 October last (see EUROPE 10773). (EH/transl.fl)