The Minister of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries, Fernando Mattos, He highlighted that there is “greater political harmony” with the government of Argentina that heads Javier Milei compared to that of Alberto Fernandez, Therefore, he hopes for progress in the negotiations to make the Mercosur, at a time when the agreement with the European Union.
Mattos indicated that he awaits a meeting between the president Luis Lacalle Pou and Milei and trusts in “a positive signal” to advance “the thesis of being able to negotiate individually”, a recurring position of the current government to be able to close different Free trade agreements (TLC).
The leader expressed himself this way during a meeting of the Southern Agricultural Council (CAS) carried out in the neighboring country, which was attended by their peers from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Chile.
“With the Argentine secretary (Fernando) Vilella we share different concepts, and beyond the coincidences we may have, there is a greater political harmony with this government, compared to what the previous relationship was,” Mattos admitted.
Along these lines, he assured that “from the point of view of the positioning of the Mercosur, there is a proposal of Uruguay about the little progress in international negotiations that the bloc has had, which is one of the chapters that is in the debt.”
Loss of competitiveness
The minister did not hesitate to point out that the regional bloc is lagging behind in the signing of international agreements due to the lack of competitiveness and graphed: “We had in mind China a destination market for almost 20% of our dairy exports and as of January 1 New Zealand “It entered with zero tariff.”
“We were left out of the market, because we paid a 10% tariff, which we could only reduce with the advancement of a Free Trade Agreement, in which the Mercosur “He did not want to enter,” Mattos highlighted, which is why he asked the CAS to consider “that progress can be made by negotiating individually.”
Consolidation of the integration process
Finally, Mattos gave way after a year and a half of pro tempore presidency of the CAS to Vilella and highlighted that his management served to reaffirm the objective “of consolidating the integration process within the countries of the Mercosur”.
“The founding and associated member countries and partners, we are a functioning part of Mercosur, or at least we have an institutional framework from the CAS and the organizations that advise us, where we try to align the positions for the productive process and consolidate one of the main food and fiber producing regions for the world, and that has the historical and vocational responsibility of generating elements for the food safety”, the minister sentenced.
At the same time, the Argentine leader highlighted “the great work” of Mattos at the regional level “to present a common vision of our countries in the main international forums.”
Source: Ambito
