This Monday the International Trade Conference (CI23)organized by the Argentine Chamber of Commerce (CAC), in which businessmen from the mercosurincluding Uruguay, gave their point of view on the role of the bloc and the agreement with the European Union that is still suspended.
The summit included presentations by the presidents of the chambers of commerce of Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, members of the Mercosur Council of Chambers of Commerce. On the Uruguayan side, the vice president of the National Chamber of Commerce and Services of Uruguay, Anabela Aldaz, considered that the agreement with the EU “is the path” that the bloc must follow. “With the block and also outside the block we have to make the greatest possible effort to achieve other commercial outlets,” added Aldaz.
The agreement between the EU and Mercosur concluded its negotiations in 2019 but has been on hold due to concerns, especially from France, about deforestation in the Amazon and the degree of commitment of Brazil to act against climate change.
The role of women
Aldaz also referred to the importance of “expanding markets by addressing the specific problems of women entrepreneurs such as access to financing” given that “companies led by women have greater difficulty accessing financing and international markets.”
“A seal ‘Woman Company’ It is something that we believe can be quite interesting to carry out”, said the Uruguayan leader, and explained that “the European Union, for example, has a specific chapter on gender”.
A concern of many
The president of the CAC, Mario Grimman, He established that regarding Mercosur he feels “some frustration because it was an extraordinary project, but in practice it does not even function as a customs union. It’s something isn’t working right.”
On the other hand, he called for the development of “a very strong Latin American alliance, which allows us as a bloc to go out and compete in the world” since “we are a region free of conflicts and we can become a potential supplier of inputs to the world, which the world today is claiming”.
For his part, the president of the Commission for Integration and Mercosur of the CAC, Carlos Restaino, He said that there are “favorable” conditions for the signing of the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union this year.
“Statements by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyenare in favor of signing something that is not a trade liberalization agreement but rather the trade leg of a broader agreement”, Restaino said. He added that “the acceptance of the conditions of the Green Pact by Mercosur is helping to enter on June 30 and December of this year that agreement is signed”.
In his turn, the president of the National Confederation of Trade in Goods, Services and Tourism of Brazil, José Tadros, said that it is necessary to “consolidate” the Mercosur alliance with the EU. “We cannot be further manipulated by foreign powers, we have a rich territory, we lack union, break the barriers and those barriers have to be broken by the businessmen,” said Tadros.
Source: Ambito
