The European Comission argued that ratifying the trade agreement with the mercosur is high on your agenda, great news for Uruguay waiting for the signature to be able to move forward with the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China, with the support of Brazil.
On Wednesday a document from the European Union (EU) which establishes the priority nature of the agreement with the regional bloc formed by Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguayan. The text, which will be presented by the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, stresses the importance of guaranteeing priority access to raw materials and other resources of Latin America, in the face of “growing geopolitical challenges.”
From Europe seek to depend less on China and USA, especially given the possibility that donald trump return to power in the North American country, as explained by the Reuters agency.
The EU-Mercosur trade pact, most of the agreements of which are based on the investment in green and digital transition projects in Latin America, it is the first one that has been worked on since 2015; and since 2019, its ratification is expected in the parliaments of the countries involved.
A fundamental step for Uruguay
The signing of the agreement with the EU is of great importance for Uruguay, but not because of the opportunities —or conditions— per se, but because it is a priority for the president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
As expressed by the Brazilian president during his visit to the country last January, the priority for Mercosur it is the signing of the final agreement with the EU. Only after closing this long episode of multilateral negotiations, would he be willing to move forward with the talks for an agreement between the regional bloc and China; something that, at that time, he recognized as important but not urgent — unlike how Uruguay understands the situation.
For the government headed by Luis Lacalle Poucount on him support of Lula and the entire bloc It could be the necessary condition for the bilateral negotiations with China —which it has been holding for months and within which the presentation of the feasibility studies is about to be over a year old— to unravel.
In fact, the Chinese government itself indicated that it does not intend to put the “harmony” of the region on the tightrope in exchange for signing the agreement with Uruguay — rather, quite the opposite: according to what Chinese officials told the minister of External relationships, Francisco Bustillo, “ideally”, the FTA would be with all of Mercosur. Therefore, having Lula’s support would be a decisive factor.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries (MGAP), Fernando Mattos, continues his journey through the Asian country; and, in national lands, the vice-chancellor Nicholas Albertoni, He highlighted the “path” that the government has taken in the search for the FTA with China, and pointed out that it has already been possible to pass “dand the intentions to activatenot necessarily to specify, but to activate”.
He also said that “the agricultural sector could be a winner of this opening”Albertoni stated; meanwhile, “the industries, which are in the middle, are going to be exposed to competition” and then “there are the vulnerable sectors, which I cannot tell them: ‘Sir, you are going to have to compete with China'” .
Regarding Mercosur, Albertoni maintained that “slam the door” It is not so simple nor is it the wisest decision, since there are at least 676 companies that have export activity within the regional bloc, and almost half of them, with a high dependence on these businesses. “Although the diagnosis is that we need to open up more”, we have with the regional bloc “a structural base that we have to be very carefulbecause what happens with those between 300 and 400 families dependent on Mercosur?
Source: Ambito
