Mercosur and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) held the eighth round of meetings in Argentina for a trade agreement and are approaching "the final stage of the negotiation," the Argentine Foreign Ministry reported on Friday (10.5.2019).
The authorities reviewed the conditions of access to their respective markets regarding goods, services, investments and government purchases. during the meetings, which ran from May 6 to 10, that each block can carry out.
On behalf of EFTA, a bloc made up of Iceland, Norway and the customs union formed by Switzerland and Liechtenstein, the director general of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries of Norway, Jan Farberg, was in Buenos Aires.
The first round with EFTA took place in Buenos Aires in June 2017, and the rapid progress of negotiations between the two regional blocs allowed for seven more rounds in less than two years. Consultations with the private sector were launched in the first quarter of 2018 and exchanges of market access offers by both parties have already taken place.
EFTA represents a market of 14 million inhabitants, while Mercosur, made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, covers 270 million people.
Mercosur exports to countries that make up the European bloc exceed 3.000 billion dollars.
The next Round is scheduled for June 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland.
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