Alckmin promises to speed up Brazil’s agreement with Mercosur

Alckmin promises to speed up Brazil’s agreement with Mercosur

The Vice President of the Republic, Geraldo Alckmin, met this Friday (17) with the Vice President of the European Commission Margarethe Vestager, to discuss relations between Brazil and the European bloc, in addition to the multilateral agreement with Mercosur. The meeting took place during the launch of the Bilateral Investment Map Brazil-European Union, a study published by the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil), in Brasília.

Alckmin pointed out that the European Union (EU) is the world’s largest investor in Brazil and that it intends to strengthen this partnership by understanding that Europeans share values ​​and principles, such as sustainable, inclusive and stable development. Negotiations between Mercosur and European Union countries began in 1999, but only advanced in 2019, after the conclusion of trade issues and political and cooperation aspects.

Currently, the commercial treaty is under review. According to Margrethe Vestager, concluding the agreement is a priority for the European Commission. “For us, finalizing the Mercosur European Union agreement negotiations is an absolute priority. It is a very important moment to accelerate the finalization and this is the moment to make things happen”, stated the European Commission envoy.

The executive vice-president also said that 50% of direct foreign investment in Brazil is of European origin and that she is proud to see the number of companies from the continent operating in the country.

In this context, Alckmin highlighted the Brazilian government’s efforts to put the country back “in the fight against climate change, zero illegal deforestation, energy transition, decarbonization and green hydrogen”. der Leyen, to Brazil According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, negotiations should be “intensified” from now on, according to information from Agência Brasil.

Lula’s promise

At the end of January of this year, President Lula had already anticipated his interest in formalizing the agreement with Mercosur in the first half of his government, during a meeting with the Prime Minister of Germany, Olaf Scholz.

“We are going to work very hard to make this agreement a reality. But something has to be changed, it cannot be the way it is there… We are going to try to show the European how flexible we are. And we want the Europeans to show us that they are too. flexible,” said Lula.

At the time, the president also mentioned that Brazil is interested in joining the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), but is still evaluating the terms of membership. “Obviously, Brazil is interested in participating in the OECD. What we want is to know what is Brazil’s role in the OECD”, he said.



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