Lessons for the ACP from the EU-Mercusor trade negotiations
The final phase of the EU's trade negotiations with the Mercusor group of Latin American developing countries began on November 12th 2003. The agreement is scheduled to cover market access on goods and services, government procurement and investments, as well as rules and disciplines in these areas and other issues such as sanitary and phytosanitary measures, agreement on wines and spirits, competition and intellectual property. The detailed schedule of meetings agreed will culminate in a ministerial level meeting in October 2004. These negotiations began in June 1999 and have since been through ten rounds of negotiations. The EU is Mercusor's main trading partner, accounting for 25% of the bloc's trade, with the EU absorbing around half of Mercusor's exports of agricultural products. Total trade between the EU and Mercusor amounted to around € 40 billion in 2002. Comment: The details of the various areas under the agreement could provide ACP countries with a clearer indication of what the EU is likely to seek under the EPA negotiations in areas such as government procurement, investment, competition policy, intellectual property rights and trade in services.
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| Format: | News Item biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
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Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
2003
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/52808 http://agritrade.cta.int/Back-issues/Agriculture-monthly-news-update/2003/December-2003 |
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