Deputy Foreign Minister Nicolás Albertoni led the delegation from the South American bloc in front of senior representatives of the Chinese government.
Uruguay chaired the VII Dialogue Meeting between Mercosur and the People’s Republic of China with the hope of reaching a Free Trade Agreement (TLC) with the Asian giant together with the Member States that make up the South American bloc.
The meeting took place this Monday in Montevideo and the delegation of the Mercosur was headed by the Vice Chancellor Nicolás Albertoniin exercise of the pro tempore presidency (PPT) of the UruguayOn the Chinese side, the mission was headed by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hua Chunyingand also highlighted the presence of the Chinese ambassador to Uruguay, Huang Yazhongamong other officials of the Asian country’s government.
This new instance of dialogue had been defined among the “main priorities” by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRREE), after the country regained control of the PPT on July 8.
Prior to the meeting, the Foreign Minister Omar Paganini He had welcomed the Chinese delegation and subsequently held a meeting with Huang Yazhong, with the aim of deepening trade relations between the two countries.
The resumption of formal dialogue between Mercosur and China
It was the President of the Republic himself Luis Lacalle Pou who proposed resuming this dialogue mechanism, which had been in disuse since November 2018, after returning from his tour of China Last year and at the request of his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.
“Obviously, for the Mercosur It is more complex to reach an agreement with China that for Uruguayalone we are much more complementary. But hopefully this issue can move forward,” said Paganini a month ago regarding expectations for the return of bilateral trade dialogue.
However, he assured that Uruguay is legally entitled to negotiate on its own, especially after the Mercosur has not taken steps to be a true customs unionHowever, the Executive Branch recognizes that the intention of China is to maintain good relations with Argentina and Brazil and therefore prefers to move forward with a regional agreement.
Source: Ambito
