Brazil, as outgoing president of Mercosur, celebrated this Friday the progress of negotiations so that the automotive and sugar sectors, treated as an exception since the founding of the bloc, can finally be included in the South American free trade zone.
The progress was cited in the report presented this Friday by Brazil during the meeting that the bloc’s Foreign Ministers had in the Brazilian city of Foz de Iguazú, prior to the summit that the presidents of the Mercosur countries will hold on Saturday.
The inclusion of automobiles, sugar and ethanol among the products that circulate tariff-free within Mercosur is an old Brazilian demand (regional power in these sectors), but the negotiations never advanced due to the resistance of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, Brazil’s partners in the customs union.
Until now, Brazil has bilateral agreements with each of its partners to regulate automobile trade, which limit exchange through quotas and tariffs.
But, according to the report presented by the secretary for Latin America of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, Gisela Padovan, the members of the customs union finally began to negotiate and advance in the inclusion of both sectors.
According to the statement released after the 67th Ordinary Meeting of the Common Market Council (CMC), during the Brazilian temporary presidency, two meetings of the Automotive Committee were held, in which the entire text being negotiated to establish a common regime for the sector was reviewed.
You may like:
Seoul asks Mexico for ‘special attention’ to preserve investments in the face of new tariffs
In the sugar field, Mercosur managed to conclude the terms of reference for the contracting of a study on the sugar and ethanol sectors in the region, which will serve as a technical basis for future negotiations aimed at the incorporation of these products into intra-zone free trade.
The balance presented by Brazil also highlighted progress on other fronts considered priorities for the bloc. Among them is the negotiation to renew the Fund for the Structural Convergence of Mercosur (Focem), the bloc’s main financial instrument to reduce asymmetries.
Since the beginning of its contributions, in 2006, Focem has financed nearly 60 projects, with an approximate mobilization of 1,000 million dollars in non-reimbursable resources destined, mainly, to infrastructure, social cohesion and institutional strengthening in relatively less developed countries.
Another of the axes highlighted was the progress in the digital agenda of Mercosur. The Brazilian presidency highlighted the negotiations of a special declaration on the protection of children and adolescents in digital environments, which will be signed during the presidential summit.
Likewise, Brazil presented the proposal for the Mercosur Verde program, an initiative aimed at articulating and giving visibility to the sustainability policies of the bloc’s countries. The objective is to consolidate a regional framework for cooperation in low-carbon agriculture, disseminate good practices and reinforce the credibility of Mercosur in environmental matters.
According to the statement, the program also seeks to protect regional trade against environmental barriers considered unjustified and open new opportunities for exports and the attraction of sustainable investments.
The progress will be evaluated on Saturday by the heads of state of Mercosur, in a summit marked by Brazil’s attempt to put on track issues considered strategic to deepen economic integration and modernize the South American bloc.
With information from EFE.
Follow information about the world in our international section
