During the LX Summit of Mercosur Presidents, which took place yesterday in Luque, the president of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, announced that his country will continue negotiating with China, on its own. He assured that he will soon seek to give participation to the block.
The president of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, announced yesterday that his country completed a few days ago the unilateral feasibility study of a free trade agreement with the People’s Republic of China.
“We are going to start it. The teams will arrive shortly to start negotiating free trade agreements and of course once this deal is advanced, the first thing we want to do is talk to Mercosur. The idea is to go all together ”, he sentenced.
Argentina and Paraguay had been against this initiative in advance, considering that decisions should be made by consensus. This position was ratified yesterday by presidents Alberto Fernández and Mario Abdo Benítez.
In this sense, Lacalle Pou assured that the negotiations to sign a trade agreement with China constitute a “national cause” for the Uruguayans, which has been analyzed by the latest governments. This process does not “break” or “violate” the principles of Mercosur, ratified the Charrúa president.
The President of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay also thanked Paraguay for organizing the Summit and highlighted the agreement reached with Singapore during his speech at the Summit.
On the other hand, he pointed out that the lack of progress regarding the agreement with the European Union produces “anxiety and uncertainty”.
TOGETHER FOR
DEAL
The presidents of Paraguay and Argentina, Mario Abdo Benítez and Alberto Fernández, urged Lacalle Pou to negotiate a free trade agreement with China as a bloc, but not separately.
For example, Argentine President Alberto Fernández mentioned that “don’t delude us with the idea of separating. Go alone, individually, with your own project”. However, he mentioned that he does not “refuse to talk” about a possible Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China.
In addition to the possibility of negotiating a trade agreement with the Asian giant, the meeting leaders and foreign ministers discussed the need to redouble efforts in the field of food security and take advantage of the current context to turn the bloc into one of the main food producers in the world.
“In the north bullets fly and in the south hunger. We cannot continue to allow that,” highlighted Alberto Fernández.
The Argentine president also called for greater unity in the block to face projects such as the provision of green energy or food to Europe, short of supplies due to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
China does not want to negotiate with Paraguay
At the end of the summit, the President of the Republic, Mario Abdo Benítez, was approached by the media and ratified his position of negotiating trade agreements with China as a Mercosur bloc.
However, Abdo Benítez clarified that China’s entry into the regional market, with its preferential tariffs, could hit the other members of the bloc.
“They have very competitive costs and that can threaten the industries of Paraguay as well as Argentina or Brazil. We view with concern the possibility of negotiating without an agreement”, he stressed.
In this sense, he assured that although diplomatic relations with Taiwan do not constitute an obstacle to establishing commercial agreements with China, it would be the Asian giant that does not see the country with good eyes.
“The one who has problems in having commercial relations is rather Mainland China because we have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The problem is not Paraguay, that’s what I say, ”she emphasized.
