Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has said she was not upset by differences with Argentina over the trade agreement Mercosur is to sign with the European Union.
“I believe it is very important that Mercosur stays together. Argentina is a great partner of ours, and we have definitely not lost patience with Argentina,” Rousseff said during the summit held by the European Union and the Economic Commission for Latin America (Celac) in Belgium.
“Bilateral agreements are difficult to every nation and region,” she added.
Mercosur partners are currently discussing a free trade agreement with the European Union. Argentina has certain reserves with the pact, but wants to move forward. Bolivia, meanwhile, said it will drop out of Mercosur if a free trade agreement is signed.
Meanwhile, European representative Cecilia Malmstrom said that the European Union is not ready to proceed with the trade agreement after a meeting with Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira and delegates from Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
“We are not ready. No one is really ready to exchange offers. That’s the reason why we decided to increase technical works and hope to exchange offers before the end of the year,” she said.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald