Mercosur and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) concluded the seventh round of negotiations for a trade agreement in Buenos Aires on Friday (145.2.2019), with "significant progress," according to the Argentine government.
This new approach has produced "concrete progress in all the chapters of the negotiating table," said the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement, which hopes to have "final results in the coming months."
The first round of negotiations between the countries of the Southern Common Market (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) and the EFTA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) took place in June 2017.
Regarding the seventh meeting, the Argentine Foreign Ministry added that "thanks to a pragmatic and flexible approach" progress was made on the various topics discussed, including the exchange of offers for access to goods, services, investments and government purchases.
The delegations were headed by the Undersecretary for International Economic Negotiations and Mercosur of Argentina, Victorio Carpintieri, and by the Director General of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries of Norway, Jan Farberg.
The next round of negotiations will also be held in Buenos Aires the week of May 6, "and intense work is expected between sessions with a view to obtaining final results in the coming months."
Between 2015 and 2017, the average annual trade between Mercosur and EFTA exceeded 7.000 billion dollars.
Last December, when Argentina assumed the six-month presidency of Mercosur, it stressed that it would seek to promote the conclusion of pending trade agreements with the EU, EFTA and Canada, as well as launching into Central America as quickly as possible and pushing for dialogue with the Pacific Alliance.
Source: Reuters
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