Trade

Commercial agreements. The eleventh ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization, which took place between December 10 and 13 in Buenos Aires, ended without major advances in commercial matters. Among the agreements that were expected to be signed, and that finally did not reach a consensus, were the export and food security agreements. Neither was the commercial agreement between MERCOSUR and the European Union. The next ministerial conference of the WTO will be held in 2019, in Geneva. Meanwhile, representatives of the EU and MERCOSUR admitted that negotiations on the interregional agreement will continue in 2018.

The WTO Ministerial Conference, which usually meets every two years, is the WTO’s most important decision-making body. The last edition ended recently, on December 13, in Buenos Aires. During his closing ceremony, the director of the WTO, Roberto Azevedo, said that “we have progressed in some areas but in most of them it was not possible, the members could not reach an agreement”. He added: “We knew that the progress here would require a jump in the positions of the members and that we did not see. We have not been able to obtain results, it is not always possible to do so “.

Among the issues that did not have consensus, are the elimination of subsidies for illegal fishing, distortions to trade in public food stocks, electronic commerce, services and the inclusion of small and medium enterprises in the multilateral trading system.

On the other hand, the Argentine Government – host of the Conference – had an expectation to seal the commercial agreement between MERCOSUR and the European Union, a negotiation that has been in debate for almost 20 years now. Although the meetings held between representatives of both blocs in Buenos Aires have approached positions, the goal of the Argentine Government to seal the agreement in Buenos Aires was not fulfilled.

The points under discussion are around access to markets, patents, some issues of guarantee of origin for food (as in the case of cheeses and wines) and the conditions for the participation of European companies in public tenders of MERCOSUR countries. The South American bloc also intends a greater opening by the European Union in the field of beef and ethanol.

Next steps

After the meetings in Buenos Aires the expectation was that the agreement could be signed during the Mercosur summit – which took place between December 18 and 21 in Brasilia -. Unfortunately, it did not happen. Representatives of both blocks admitted that the negotiations will end in January 2018. Márcio Cozendey, undersecretary general of Economic and Financial Affairs of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, said that the agreement will be signed during the first half of next year.