On Friday 23 February, Mexico's under-secretary for foreign relations, Carlos de Icaza González, gave assurances that 95% of talks on the trade section of the revised EU-Mexican global agreement were complete, and said an agreement in principle could be concluded "in a few weeks".
"We have completed the chapters on the political and cooperation section and on 95% of the trade section", de Icaza González said at a seminar on EU-Latin America relations, in which Spanish MEPS José Ignacio Salafranca (EPP) and Inmaculada Rodríguez-Piñero (S&D) took part in Madrid on Friday. He also said that "ten chapters on market access and technical issues have already been closed".
"We are in the final phase of the talks and we expect to conclude them in a few weeks. This is a win-win agreement at a key moment", the Mexican diplomat added, underlining the importance of the "strong message in favour of dialogue, cooperation, free trade and multilateralism" that it will send the rest of the world.
De Icaza González spoke of progress in the discussions on market access, arrangements for SMEs and questions on trade and sustainable development – the fight against climate change, human rights and labour.
The ninth round of negotiations on the technical level, from 19 to 21 February in Mexico, enabled the positions to be brought closer together, but differences remain on key issues for the EU, like the rules of origin linked to Mexican automobile exports and the conditions of market access for EU agri-food products, the Commission stated last week (see EUROPE 11966).
Deeming the technical level discussions to be "not yet ripe", European Commissioners Cecilia Malmström (Trade) and Phil Hogan (Agriculture) cancelled their visit to Mexico at the end of last week to sketch the outlines of a political agreement. The two parties are continuing their work and consultations internally before meeting again. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)