Brussels, 16/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - Visiting Brasilia on Friday 13 February, Germany's foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, spoke of his country's desire to speed up the freed trade negotiations between the EU and Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela).
“In Germany the administration of Chancellor Angela Merkel is very much interested in speeding the EU-Mercosur trade agreement, and we hope it can be achieved in the near future. We are doing our utmost to this effect”, he said, after a meeting with Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, and foreign minister, Mauro Vieira. Steinmeier also said he had spoken to Rousseff about the situation in other Mercosur member states - especially Argentina and Venezuela, which are more reluctant to conclude an association agreement with the EU.
Steinmeier's visit to Brasilia came as apart of a tour in South America, which also took him to Peru and Colombia, but not to Argentina.
On the Brazilian side, Vieira said they were “waiting for a reply from Brussels to begin the last leg of negotiations. This was the message from President Rousseff to minister Steinmeier.”
The EU and Mercosur have been negotiating an association agreement, including a free trade agreement, since 1999. After a six-year freeze, the negotiations resumed in 2010. The exchange of offers on market access - which cover agricultural and industrial products, and also government procurement - has still not taken place, despite the commitment taken at ministerial level in January 2013. (Emmanuel Hagry)