The Fifth Round of Negotiations between Mercosur and Singapore, which ran from May 30 to June 3, concluded in Asunción on Friday.
The meetings were aimed at moving towards the conclusion of a free trade agreement between the two parties, the Paraguayan Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The first part of this V Round took place in Singapore between May 9 and 13 of this year.
The Chief Negotiators highlighted the work carried out and the progress achieved, in particular the conclusion of negotiations for the Trade Defence and Transparency chapters.
Paraguay coordinates Mercosur in this negotiation and The agreed work programme provides for the conclusion of the agreement in July., which will allow the priority objective set by the Paraguayan Pro Tempore Presidency of Mercosur to be achieved and the bloc's first trade agreement in Southeast Asia to be reached.
Singapore is an important trade and investment partner for the bloc. In 2021, Mercosur exports totaled $5.929 billion while imports reached $1.252 billion.
The Paraguayan delegation was made up of diplomats and experts from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, who lead each of the respective technical groups.
Singapore's chief negotiator is Dr. Francis Chong of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The Mercosur teams were led by: Minister Luis Levit of the Argentine Republic; Minister Philip Fox-Drummond Gough of the Federative Republic of Brazil; Ambassador Enrique Franco of the Republic of Paraguay; and Ambassador Alejandra De Bellis of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay.Press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay)
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