08/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Mexican minister of Agriculture, Javier Usabiaga, ended a tour of Europe in Brussels on Friday, tour aimed at trying to convince Europeans to invest in Mexican agriculture.
In Barcelona, the minister met the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Franz Fischler and the Spanish Minister of Agriculture, Miguel Arias Canete, and in Brussels the Commissioner for Food Safety, David Byrne, to try to break the deadlock on several disputes. He pleaded for the Mexican States of Yucatan and Somora to be declared exempt from swine fever, and the Commission indicated that a procedure could be initiated. It should take a year, remarked a Mexican expert. The Europeans also under took to ensure the respect of the agreement on the mutual recognition of names of origin for wines and spirits, so as to avoid the counterfeiting of Tequilla. To do so, the EU should, notably, create a new specific tariff heading. The two parties undertook to make progress in negotiations on a liberalisation under quotas of filets of tuna exported by Mexico, product that was left in suspense on the conclusion of the free trade agreement.