Uruguay and Brazil signed on Monday two additional protocols to the agreement signed by their foreign ministers during the IX Summit of the Americas, in the United States, which exempt exports from free zones from tariffs and facilitate the trade of yerba mate between nations.
Source: EFE
The signing, which took place at the headquarters of the Latin American Integration Association (Aladi), in Montevideo, was attended by the Uruguayan Foreign Minister, Francisco Bustillo, who assured the press that these new protocols facilitate trade between neighboring countries .
“(The agreement) has three fundamental elements: greater access to the market, due to the possibility that all goods produced in the free zone enter Brazil with zero tariffs; the attractiveness that this means for foreign investors who want to come and settle in Uruguay; and the generation of high-quality employment,” highlighted Bustillo.
Aladi’s general secretary, Sergio Abreu, expressed himself along the same lines, stating that the additional protocols, signed by the ambassadors of Brazil and Uruguay to the Association, Antonio José Ferreira Simoes and Ana Inés Rocanova, respectively, contribute to creating ” more transparent investment dynamics.
“This is a contribution to transparency, to better trade (…) and, obviously, to a particular expectation for investors and small and medium-sized companies that can take advantage of these issues,” he said, adding that it is also a positive step. for more companies to enter the Common Market of the South (Mercosur).
“(There is) a dynamic of trade that we need to increase profoundly within the region, because we are a region that is trading only 11% of its trade compared to 50 or 60% in Europe and Asia,” Abreu remarked.
On the other hand, when asked about the relationship between his country and the other Mercosur partners, Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, after the reactions caused by the announcement of a possible Free Trade Agreement between Uruguay and China, Bustillo pointed out that he continues to be “very good” and this advance with Brazil is proof of that.
“We have differences on some issues, yes, but we continue to work very well and reach agreements as important as a free trade agreement with any country,” he said, referring to the protocols with Brazil, which include a new sanitary technical criterion for avoid non-tariff barriers to the entry of yerba mate from Brazil.
On the progress of the delayed agreement between Mercosur and the European Union (EU), Bustillo said that the South American bloc “is in a position to sign today” and said that “hopefully” the headlines announcing that the EU is ” urgent” to unlock it are true.
“If it is true that there is really concern on the part of the EU for us, it is welcome,” concluded the Uruguayan, who recalled that Europe promised to complete the negotiations after the proposed addendum to incorporate environmental clauses into the treaty.
