After meeting in Montevideo with the President of Uruguay, Lacalle Pou, the President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, hinted this Wednesday (25) at negotiations for a trade agreement between Mercosur and China.
Lula also promised to unlock the trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, which he called urgent, and committed to discussing a renewal of Mercosur, a demand from the neighboring country.
The unilateral trade negotiations between Uruguay and China are precisely the Gordian knot of this trip by Lula, who is trying to prevent this movement in order to avoid weakening Mercosur.
“I told Lacalle and I say to my ministers, we are going to intensify discussions with the European Union and we are going to keep this agreement so that we can discuss only a possible agreement between China and Mercosur. And I think it is possible”, declared Lula in Montevideo after the meeting. After recalling the good relations that Brazil had with Uruguay during the PT mandates – and calling former president Michel Temer a “coup plotter” – Lula stated that he had now received a semi-destroyed country and said that it was necessary to “work together” for the growth of the region. He also recognized the need to further open bilateral trade.
“I want to tell the president that we completely agree on the ideas of discussing the so-called innovation or renewal of Mercosur. What do we need to do to modernize Mercosur? First, we want to sit down at the table with our technicians, then with our ministers and finally with the presidents so that we can renew whatever needs to be renewed,” promised Lula.
Uruguay reiterates position on negotiations with China
The president of Uruguay, in turn, reiterated his willingness to make Mercosur more flexible and to continue negotiations for a trade agreement with China.
“Uruguay will move forward in its negotiations with China. Brazil can follow its path in parallel and after that we will share everything that was negotiated. And Uruguay can adjust to what Brazil proposes. Brazil can say what it managed to negotiate with China,” he stated after the meeting with Lula. “To summarize, the Mercosur we want needs to be modern, flexible and open to the world,” he added.
According to Lacalle Pou, the meeting with Lula and the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, was intense and extensive, but devoid of ideologies and without arguments.
“We could have argued, but we didn’t. We simply outlined some differences on the points we want to be able to move forward, mainly the relationship between Uruguay and Brazil as members of Mercosur,” highlighted the Uruguayan leader, who is center-right. “We said what the interests of our peoples and our countries are. We always try to ensure that the interests of our nations coincide.”
Lacalle Pou stated that a technical group will be created to discuss the impasse with Mercosur. “Uruguay has its negotiations and has no impediment to saying so,” he highlighted, recognizing Brazil’s weight in the negotiations. The possibility of turning Rivera Airport into an international terminal was also mentioned at the meeting, Lacalle Pou said, as was the need to improve the trade balance.
Source: Canal Rural