Brazilian President Michel Temer will travel to Asunción on Monday (18.6.2018) to attend the Mercosur Summit, where he will advocate for greater economic openness and promote the creation of a digital agenda that lays the foundations for electronic commerce between the countries of the bloc.
The president will leave Brasilia on Monday, a few hours before the start of the 52nd Mercosur semi-annual summit, which has been confirmed to be attended by the heads of state of Argentina, Mauricio Macri; Paraguay, Horacio Cartes; and Uruguay, Tabaré Vázquez.
Digital agenda
At the meeting, in which Vázquez will receive the temporary presidency of the bloc from Cartes, Brazil expects that "a work program for the digital agenda of Mercosur will be defined," said Paulo Estivallet, Undersecretary for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Foreign Ministry, this week.
The initiative aims to regulate electronic commerce among member countries, within the framework of a strategy to advance towards greater trade liberalization among them and also abroad.
commercial opening
Temer will thus reaffirm his commitment to the commercial opening of Mercosur at a time when protectionism is gaining ground following the escalation of tensions between the United States and China with the imposition of multimillion-dollar tariffs on their respective products.
In this sense, the largest economy in South America will insist on the importance of closing the free trade agreement with the European Union as soon as possible, which has been pursued for almost two decades.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes said on Wednesday at a public hearing in the Chamber of Deputies that the agreement with the EU could become a reality before the presidential elections to be held in the South American country in October.
"We are gradually overcoming the obstacles. We have already had several technical rounds (of negotiations) and we closed another one last week. I hope that we can conclude it this year, and as soon as possible, because soon there will be elections in Europe and Brazil," he said.
Nunes pointed out that of the 300 points of divergence that existed between the two blocks, only fifty remain to be resolved.
These include the automotive sector, maritime services, intellectual property, especially aspects related to drug patents, and export quotas for sugar and meat, a "sensitive" point following the scandals uncovered in Brazil regarding the existence of mafias that altered the quality of the product.
Source: Reuters
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