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EU Mercosur eeni - ~he Global Business schocl

The EU-Mercosur FTA

Negotiations for an inte~regicnal Association Agreement between the EU and tne Mercosur were launched in 1999 but were, however, suspended in October 2004.

During 2009 and 2010, the EU and Mercosur conducted a process of informal contacts to take stock of the situatons ard assess if the conditions for a successful ^re- aunch of tne negotiations were now presert. Tak ng into account the resutts of th s informal dia ogue. with the last two meeting takng olace in Buenos Aires on 18-19 March and in Brussels or 26-27 April 2010, tne Ćommissicn decided in May 2010 that it shou d be possible to relaunch the negotiations.

The negotiations a^e based on a region-to region approach and aims at an ambiticus and balanced •-esult, going beyond the respective WTO obi gations of both sides.

The agreement will have an e>:tensive coverage, although prcduct and sectoral sersitivities on both sides will be ta<en into account. It will cover not just goods, but ssues such as services, investment, government procurement or trade and sustainable development.

The EU-Mercosur FTA will also aim at ensurng adeguate protection of irtellectual property rights ard gecgraph cal indications, e~ective competition po icies and will indude a special chapter on sanitary ard phytosanita^y standa^ds. It will also establish an effective and b nding dispute settlement mecharism to help resolve trade d ffe^ences over in the EU-Me-cosu-- •■eiationship.

MERCOSUR Asuncion, May 6, 2011

Statement of the EU ard MERCOSUR after the Sth round of negotiations or the futurę Association Agreement betv,eer both reęrons

In the context o^£ the XXI B-Regional Negotiations Committee (BNC). delegations from MERCOSUR and the European Union held working meetirgs from May 2 to May 6, 2011, for the negotiation of a futurę Bi-Regiona Associaton Agreemert.

This was the frth round afte-- negotiations were re- aunched in Madrid on May 17th, 2010, in the context of tne MERCOSUR - EU Summit.

At the XXI BNC, Chief Negot ators of both s des reaffirmed tne r comm tment to move negotiations fcrward to reach a comp'enensive, balanced and ambitious Association Agreement. Negctiatons were neld n the Political, Cooperation and Tiade pillars of the Agreement.

With regard to the Politica and Cooperation pi lars, regulatory texts were reviewed and points of view were e:*:changed on a numbe' of issues. Substantial progress v/as achleved in the regotation of texts.

Elever Working Groups of tne Tiade pillar held meet ngs during the XXI BNC and achieved cors derab e progress in the regu atory texts cf the Bi-Regional Agreement. At the XXII BNC, botn sides will take stoc< o^£ the progress in all Working Groups in order to set priorities among the relevant pending issues, with a view to finalizing the normative framework of tne Agreement. Moreover, botn sides agreed to continue the interna work to present tneir improved market access offers.

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