At the tenth session of technical-level talks in Brussels on 16-20 April, the negotiators from the European Commission and Mexican administration will try to lift the last obstacles to an agreement on the trade section of revised EU-Mexico global agreement.
"Meetings have taken place these last weeks, including at senior official level. We have made important progress but there are still a few key issues on which positions diverge, including on rules of origin for cars and market access for some agri-food products", a Commission source close to the issue told EUROPE on Tuesday 27 March.
"The EU hopes to conclude an ambitious and comprehensive agreement with Mexico soon, and is ready to do so when the substance is right", the source added.
Deeming that the technical-level talks were not yet "ripe", Malmström and her colleague Phil Hogan (Agriculture) cancelled their visit to Mexico at the end of the ninth round of talks, in mid-February, to try to sketch the outlines of a political agreement, before the start of the campaign for the Mexican general elections on 1 July (see EUROPE 11966, 11970). (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)