First Round of Negotiations between Mercosur and the United Arab Emirates concluded this Friday

Asuncion, IP Agency.- The first round of negotiations between Mercosur and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), coordinated by Paraguay, concluded on Friday with significant progress and a favorable outlook for the signing of a possible agreement.

The round, which began on Monday, July 2, was attended by expert negotiators from the delegations of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and the United Arab Emirates. Intense negotiation sessions were held in technical groups on Market Access for Goods, Rules of Origin, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Technical Barriers to Trade and Services.

In this regard, the review and analysis of the texts under negotiation was initiated, and there was an important exchange at the technical level on different aspects of relevance in the chapters addressed. There was also coordinated work in the area of ​​Chief Negotiators.

With the aim of concluding negotiations during this year, the members of Mercosur and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to maintain intersessional work virtually.

The United Arab Emirates is a very important trading partner for Mercosur in terms of trade and is one of the main partners in the Middle East. In this sense, there is great potential for trade expansion between the two parties. In 2023, the total trade volume reported a positive trade balance for Mercosur, with exports worth 3.5 billion dollars, while imports reached 1.6 billion dollars.

For Paraguay, there is potential for expansion for the export of products such as beef and corn, as well as for the export of new products such as sugar, chicken meat and wheat.

The Paraguayan delegation, which led the work of Mercosur, was headed by the Chief Negotiator and Vice Minister of Economic Relations and Integration, Patricia Frutos Ruíz, accompanied by the coordinators of the technical groups of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, the National Service of Quality and Health of Plants and Seeds and the National Service of Quality and Health of Animals.