The presidents of the four countries that make up Mercosur asked their foreign ministers to advance negotiations to close an agreement between their bloc and the European Union (EU), according to the Uruguayan Presidency in a statement. release.
“All the presidents and foreign ministers of Mercosur have the firm will to close the agreement, even though there are difficulties that we will try to overcome," Nin Novoa said. "We have the mandate of the four presidents in the sense that Those technical provisions that are hindering the signing of the agreement may be lifted., in an effort to make things more flexible, which is also the responsibility of the European Union," he added.
“Defining the willingness to close the deal with Mercosur is very important to give the final push to the agreement. We know that there are difficulties, obstacles, uncertainties and changes of government, and all of that can be overcome if there is flexibility and political will to do so,” he said.
Singapore and Canada
In another order, Nin Novoa announced that the Meetings between government representatives of Uruguay and Singapore will take place on October 3 and 5“We will see if we can establish the pillars of an agreement, which could be on trade, services, public purchases,” he said. “Singapore is a very large economy in a very small territory, where there are practically no tariffs on the entry of goods. I think we will move forward quickly,” he said.
Nin Novoa said that with Canada has also made significant progress in negotiations, with the hope of closing the agreement in 2019., such as the chapter on trade and gender. Canadians expressed strong support for the initiative, he said.
Mercosur and the European Union have been negotiating a broad association agreement, including a free trade agreement, since 1999, although negotiations were blocked between 2004 and 2010 and were only resumed in 2016.
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