Brussels, 23/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - On 22 April, Uruguay's President José Mujica confirmed that the countries of the Mercosur bloc were close to finalising their offer to the EU on market access.
After months of intense dealings, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay are very close to concluding their joint offer of tariff liberalisation for the agricultural and industrial products that Mercosur is due to exchange with the EU, as part of the negotiations for an association agreement between the two blocs.
“We are very close. Time and effort was needed, but believe it or not, we managed to make it”, said Mujica, as quoted by his country's press. The Mercosur countries will, he says, present their proposal on common tariff reduction to Europe within less than two months. Another technical meeting between the negotiators of the four South American countries is due to take place in Montevideo on 29 April to finalise the offer.
During their previous technical meeting in Montevideo last week, the Mercosur countries agreed on a global tariff reduction of 87% for goods, following Argentina's decision to be more flexible in sectors such as diary products, wheat and the automobile industry. However, some textiles and computers were outside the deal proposed, according to MercoPress.
As well as tariff liberalisation, this agreement - the negotiations for which were initially launched in 1999, then frozen between 2004 and 2010 - will cover non-tariff barriers, services, investment and public procurement. As the newcomer to Mercosur, Venezuela is not participating in the negotiations because it is in an adjustment period. (EH)