Brazilian financial daily Valor Econômico reports that Argentina has finalised a list of commercial offers with cuts across 90% of its products, part of an exchange between Mercosur and the European Union (EU) that should pave the way for the reopening of negotiations towards a Free Trade Agreement between the two trading blocs. The Argentinian move comes after a technical meeting between Mercosur members in order to homogenise the proposal to be presented to the EU. The meeting happened earlier this month and was specifically aimed at preventing Argentina’s exclusion from negotiations because of the delay in the presentation of its list of commercial offers.
The Brazilian minister for Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Mauro Borges Lemos, lauded his neighbouring country, stating that Argentina had made “significant efforts” even if its offer was slightly below the tabled Brazilian offer of cuts across 92% of products. The minister said that the countries would now begin the tricky effort of negotiating a single list that would be attractive to European negotiators. Borges also said that Brazil expects the trading blocs to exchange proposals by early June so that the final FTA could be signed as soon as possible.
Source: Valor Econômico
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