EU-Mercosur pact hopes for 1999

15 September 1997

EU-Mercosur pact hopes for 1999

MANUEL MARIN, the European Union (EU) commissioner responsible for relations with Latin America, said the EU and Mercosur, will be in a position to sign a free-trade agreement in 1999. Negotiations would begin next year. Mercosur is the South American trade group.

Mercosur diplomats argued that a tariff reduction agreement with the EU was not possible without a significant reform of the common agriculture policy.
Agriculture is one of the Mercosur nations strongest sectors.

• Financial Times 15/09/97 page 4