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Plans for EU-Mercosur trade deal move forward

The EU and the Mercosur trade bloc made "important advances" on Monday toward a free-trade deal that they hope to complete by October, the Argentine Foreign Ministry said.

EU officials met in Buenos Aires with the coordinators of the four Mercosur nations -- Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay -- to analyze improved offers to open up each other's markets.

"This technical exchange took place to assure that the offers will permit a significant advance to complete negotiations by October this year," Argentina's Foreign Ministry said in a statement, without giving further details of the offers.

Argentina currently holds the six-month Mercosur presidency.

The two blocs sit down to negotiate the offers in Brussels from May 3 to May 7.

Securing increased access to EU markets for beef, poultry, and especially sugar are of key importance to Brazil and Argentina, Latin America's farming powerhouses.

In return, Brussels seeks better offers from Mercosur in the areas of services, government procurement, investment and non-agricultural market access.

The progress comes after Brazil and Argentina cast doubt over whether the US-led Americas-wide free trade deal can be reached by a Jan. 1 deadline.

A Free Trade Area of the Americas meeting has been rescheduled for late this month after being suspended three weeks ago due to slow progress on talks involving farm issues, services, and overall market access.
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