The IV Round of Negotiations between Mercosur and Singapore, coordinated by Paraguay, began on Monday (04.04.2022) in Asunción.
This is indicated in a statement issued by the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which explains that the format has been in person since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
This negotiation, which began in 2019, is the first between Mercosur and a member country of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and constitutes one of the priorities of the current Paraguayan Pro Tempore Presidency (PPTP).
The meetings of the IV Round will be held throughout the week at the Bourbon Hotel in Luque, with the participation of more than eighty negotiators in the different technical groups. On this occasion, the negotiating groups will look at market access for goods, rules of origin, trade in services, public procurement, investments, telecommunications and electronic commerce.
The Vice Minister of Economic Relations and Integration, Ambassador Raúl Cano Ricciardi, opened the round of negotiations and reiterated the priority nature of this negotiation, in order to conclude next June the first Mercosur trade agreement with an Asian country, particularly Singapore, which has high standards in terms of trade disciplines.
The Paraguayan delegation is made up of representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the National Directorate of Public Procurement and the National Directorate of Intellectual Property.
The Paraguayan chief negotiator is Ambassador Enrique Franco, who is leading the talks together with Minister Luis Levit, from the Republic of Argentina; Ambassador Michel Arslanian, from the Federative Republic of Brazil; and Ambassador Alejandra De Bellis, representing the Oriental Republic of Uruguay.
The Singapore delegation is led by its chief negotiator, Francis Chong, of the Ministry of Trade and Industry. (Note of Press Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay)
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