The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Argentina, Diana Mondinoassured that the government of Javier Milei is willing to open the Mercosur to the world; Among the possibilities, there is a possible Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Japan, good news for Luis Lacalle Pou that has been demanding the opening of the block.
He Mercosur and Japan will begin next month with the negotiation process to sign an FTA, an agreement that, if finalized, could give impetus to the exports of Uruguay.
The start of talks in April was confirmed by the Foreign Minister of Paraguay, Rubén Ramírez Lezcano, who in an interview with the Nikkei newspaper confirmed that the regional bloc seeks to open up to the Asian market, in its strategy to add more markets, given the freezing of the agreement with the European Union.
The leader of the country who currently holds the current presidency of the Mercosur He stated that the objective is to expand the exports of the agricultural sector to the Asian country, which is the fourth largest economy in the world.
Argentina’s bid
Last week the Argentine Foreign Minister, Diana Mondino, He was the protagonist of the first visit of the Argentine government of Milei in Tokyo, where he met with his Japanese counterpart, Yoko Kamikawa.
In dialogue with the Nikkei newspaper, the head of the portfolio assured that the Argentine government “hopes to be able to begin exploring a dialogue.”
In that sense, he pointed to the countries of the Mercosur that offer more resistance to the commercial opening of the block. “We need other countries to believe the same,” Mondino said, noting that FTA “they are the best option” to carry it out.
A dispute with history
At the summit of Mercosur held at the end of last year in Rio de Janeirothe Uruguayan president demanded to move towards a FTA with China, on the line in which the Uruguay is negotiating with Beijing, and at the same time to the rest of the countries of the bloc that do not oppose progress in bilateral negotiations.
“I believe that there is no will to advance in a FTA of the Mercosur with China. What we want is for (the rest of the member countries) not to oppose it,” the president said.
“We all know that the foreign affairs services have spoken individually with China to tell them that it would not be well regarded by the bloc to have bilateral agreements with any member country,” he said, looking at his peers from Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Bolivia, who participated for the first time as a full member.
In this sense, he highlighted that the understandings he signed with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, “it is expressly mentioned Mercosur”, so he asked the bloc partners to “assume that we went first and that you go, because China is willing.”
During a visit by Lacalle Pou to the Asian giant on November 23, both nations indicated in a joint document that China and Uruguay indicated their willingness to “promote dialogue on free trade between the Mercosur and China”.
In April, after a visit by the then former chancellor, Francisco Bustillo, to Beijing, The Chinese government had told Uruguay that he was interested in advancing in a TLC, but that he preferred to seal an agreement of this type with the Mercosur.
Source: Ambito
