Uruguay Holds Talks To Boost EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement

Uruguay's Foreign Affairs Minister Francisco Bustillo is set to meet European Union (EU) authorities as part of a visit aimed at promoting the ratification of the Partnership Framework Agreement (PFA) signed between the Common Market of the South (Mercosur) and the EU in 2019.

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Bustillo will hold the first talks with Belgian Foreign Affairs Minister Sohphie Wilmes, the European Parliament's International Trade Committee President Bernd Lange, and the President of the delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly Javi Lopez.

He will also meet the High Representative for the EU's Foreign Policy Josep Borrel and the Vice President of the European Commission (EC) Valdis Dombrovskis.

For the PFA to come into force, the national parliaments of the EU countries, some of their regional parliaments, and the European Parlament must give their approval to the pact which was signed after twenty years of negotiations.

Holding up the deal's ratification, the European Parlament approved a resolution in October making clear its opposition to the environmental policy of Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, considering that it "contradicts the commitments made in the Paris Agreement".

Bustillo's visit takes place ahead of the Mercosur summit to be held in mid-December, under the pro tempore Uruguayan presidency.

Mercosur was established in 1991 through an agreement signed by Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. In 1995, the EU and Mercosur signed a bi-regional framework agreement as a preliminary stage of PFA.