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EU-Mercosur deal closer than ever, say leaders of Uruguay, Spain

Xinhua, April 27, 2017 Adjust font size:

Uruguay's President Tabare Vazquez and Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy agreed on Wednesday that progress could be made for a free-trade agreement (FTA) between the South American trade bloc Mercosur and the EU.

In a joint press conference after their summit, Vazquez said that "the political conditions in both blocs today allow us to be truly optimistic."

The president added that the objective is for the FTA deal to be concluded before the end of the year.

Rajoy said that "we will continue driving the agreement with Mercosur within the European Union."

From his perspective, this commercial agreement would allow to bring together two regions "which share values and are poles of stability and prosperity in an agitated world."

Rajoy arrived in Uruguay on Tuesday, after being in Brazil, for an official visit which ends this afternoon.

The free-trade talks between the EU and Mercosur began in the mid-1990s, but hit an impasse between 2004 and 2010, after neither side was willing to make more concessions, in agriculture for the Europeans, and in the industrial sector for the South Americans.

Talks resumed in 2012, but reached another impasse in 2014.

Mercosur groups Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela. Enditem