ISDS Case Map
Mercosur
According to Demétrio Magnoli, Brazil must become a member of trade blocs to avoid isolation, but the ideological view of the Brazilian Workers Party prevents this.
Foreign Ministers from both blocs will meet November in Chile to discuss a Free Trade Agreement by 2016.
Industry and Trade Minister Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour said the Egyptian government is keen to activate the Egypt-Mercosur free trade agreement that Egypt has signed in 2010 with the Southern Common Market economic bloc.
Brazil will propose next Tuesday during the Mercosur summit that the group and the Pacific Alliance reach an agreement on free trade by the end of the year, according to official sources.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel assured Brazil on Sunday that she will do her utmost to bring to a successful end the 15-year-old negotiation of a free trade deal between the European Union and South America's Mercosur trade bloc.
At the end of May Mercosur will be ready to exchange tariff-reduction proposals with the European Union, announced Brazilian Industry minister Mauro Borges who also anticipated the trade block would be holding a preparatory meeting next week in Caracas, Venezuela.
Paraguay's foreign minister Eladio Loizaga said that there is no date for the several times suspended Mercosur summit, but a technical meeting is scheduled for next week in Montevideo when the issue, among others will be addressed. Nevertheless he insisted that the different bodies of Mercosur “are working normally”.
Argentine cabinet chief Jorge Capitanich confirmed on Tuesday 'significant advances' in the elaboration of Mercosur's joint proposal to exchange with the European Union for discussions on a much delayed wide ranging cooperation and trade agreement.
The European Union and the Mercosur bloc have been negotiating a Free Trade Agreement for about 15 years now and after a several-year impasse talks seemed to gather new impetus in 2010 but the opinions of pundits talking to the Herald are deeply divided about the prospects of a quick accord.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Luiz Alberto Figueiredo said Tuesday that despite recent delays, member countries of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) are close to finalizing a trade deal with the European Union.
