ISDS Case Map
Mercosur
After 31 months of talks, 2013 was supposed to mark the time when the European Union and the Mercosur bloc were going to present their respective offers for a free trade deal all sides claim to want. Yet 2013 will end as it began —without any concrete progress.
Brazil's government is ready to present a proposal that would put 90% of its commerce with the European Union under a free-trade agreement, but the effort could stall on resistance from the country's existing partners in the regional Mercosur trade bloc.
Uruguayan Vice-President Danilo Astori said Mercosur must decisively address the signing of a free trade agreement with the United States, but also admits that “opportunities must be built”.
The 28-country European Union underscored the potential benefits of a free trade agreement with Mercosur and revealed that so far no country member of the group has requested to a bilateral negotiation.
Mercosur is pushing a free trade deal with Canada which, if signed, will confront Ottawa with the ticklish issue of dealing with continued U.S. embargo on the regional pact's future partner Cuba.
Argentine president Cristina Fernandez downplayed immediate discussions for the trade and cooperation agreement between EU and Mercosur arguing that the South American block should elaborate and discuss new proposals to be presented to the Europe Union on the last quarter of this year.
Egypt’s Ambassador delivered the original ratification document of the Arab Republic of Egypt on the Free Trade Agreement signed with the Mercosur on 2/8/2010 to the Secretariat of the organization.
Egypt has just endorsed the Free Trade Area agreement signed with the Mercosur (Southern American Common Market) on August 2, 2010, said Deputy Spokesman for the Foreign Ministry Nazieh el-Nagari.
The European Union expects to advance cooperation and trade discussions with Mercosur late this month in Chile in the sidelines of the EU/Celac (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States), said EU ambassador in Chile, Rafael Dochao Moreno.
Mercosur membership, the path chosen by the government of leftist President Evo Morales, could open up new prospects for Bolivian business owners “especially those involved in big agribusiness in eastern Bolivia,” Tullo Vigévani, a professor at Paulista State University in Brazil, told IPS.
