Brussels, 27/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 27 May, Brazil's Agriculture Minister Katia Abreu said she was convinced that Brazil already met the necessary conditions for signing a sanitary and phytosanitary agreement with the EU - the first step towards a bilateral free-trade agreement.
“The message I'm going to give [the European Commission] is that Brazil is totally ready to respond to the requirements of European consumers”, said Abreu at a press conference in Brussels on Wednesday with European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan. “Brazil is aware of the importance of food safety for Europeans”, she said.
Abreu also underlined the need to conclude a free-trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela) “as quickly as possible”. “Maybe there has been a lack of confidence recently, but we must be optimistic”, she said, underlining Brazil's ability to respond to the EU's demand for agricultural products. She added that between 21% and 22% of Brazilian exports currently go to the European market.
The EU and Mercosur have been negotiating an association agreement (including a free-trade agreement) since 1999. After a six-year freeze, the talks were relaunched in 2010. The exchange of offers on market access (covering agricultural and industrial products, as well as services and government procurement) has still not come about, despite the commitment taken for this at ministerial level in January 2013. This issue is expected to be discussed at the highest political level on the sidelines of the next summit between the EU and Latin American and the Caribbean (Brussels, 10-11 June).
After the meeting between Hogan and Abreu, the Commission spoke of a “cordial” meeting during which the parties agreed to relaunch the agricultural dialogue by focusing on geographical indications, organics and agricultural research “in order to achieve mutual benefits”. The Commission welcomed the strengthened agricultural cooperation. (Emmanuel Hagry)