The Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Eurochambres, considered this Thursday that it is "imperative" that the European Union (EU) and Mercosur "take advantage of the opportunity" to conclude a political pact on their association agreement, "the most strategic" for the EU, after 20 years of negotiations.
"If we don't decide to work together now, others will," warned Eurochambres President Christoph Leitl.
Leitl said that in recent months "A lot of effort has been made by both sides to reach a stage where we finally achieve a political agreement on the main market access issues".
The foreign ministers of the Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay) are currently meeting in Brussels with European commissioners to try to give a definitive political push to the negotiations, which have been taking place at a technical level since last Friday in the Belgian capital.
"This is a unique opportunity for both parties that we should not miss if we want to strategically link our regions for the coming years," Eurochambres insisted.
The organization stressed that the agreement with Mercosur is ""More than a trade agreement""It is a vehicle to promote stability and integration and will strengthen the position of our business communities in each other's markets in times of economic change," he said.
Eurochambres said that for the EU, as the "number one investor" in Mercosur and with a trade relationship that exceeds 80.000 billion euros annually, this agreement with a market of 260 million consumers must be of "major strategic importance."
According to the organisation, the economic benefits of this agreement are "well documented", with tariff gains for the EU being three times greater than those achieved together in the current trade agreements with Canada and Japan.
Products such as beef and sugar are among the most sensitive for Europeans and a solution for them must still be found within the agreement.
Negotiations for a comprehensive association agreement - based on cooperation, political dialogue and free trade - between the EU and Mercosur began in Buenos Aires in April 2000 and more than thirty rounds of negotiations have taken place since then.
Source: Reuters
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