As part of a meeting to analyze the sector's situation, the directors of the chambers of industry food and drinks of Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay told EFE that they want Mercosur to achieve a trade agreement with the European Union (EU).
The activity, which apart from the inaugural conference includes two meetings of technical and institutional capacity to address issues of regulatory character and a common working strategy, was organized by the Coordinator of Industries Food Products and Beverages from Mercosur and Chile (CIPAM).
"We have to look beyond Mercosur, to Europe, where it is high time we close a deal," said Carlos Micossi, president of the Chamber of Paraguayan Food Companies (Cepali). He also said that the South American regional bloc also had to seek trade agreements in the Pacific.
In that sense, Micossi asked the attendees to think about China's consumption capacity.
He added that the world would continue to need food and that South America produced a large part of global production, which gave the bloc's countries a good leverage that they could use in their advantage.
In turn, the president of Argentina's Coordination of Industrial Food Products (Copal), Daniel Funes, said the Mercosur had to strengthen its domestic market and project itself as the platform for the negotiations to come, be it with the EU or with the Pacific.
Finally, regarding an agreement between the EU and Mercosur, the president of the Uruguay's Industrial Chamber of Food (Ciali), Juan Pablo Speranza, said, "all trade agreements are positive because they give legal certainty that leads to investment and the assurance that the products will reach the European market, which is very important."
The executive director of the Brazilian Association of Food Industries (Abia), Mario Martins, was also invited to the meeting but didn't show up.
One of the main outstanding issues between the EU and Mercosur (which is made up by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela) is the realization of a free trade agreement between both blocs.
Last November, the Spanish Secretary of Trade, Jaime García-Legaz, said in Brussels that there was a vast majority of EU Member States in favor of exchanging offers with the four Mercosur countries with which they are negotiating; not including Venezuela.
The contacts between the two blocs began in 1995 after the signing of an Interregional Framework Cooperation Agreement that led to the first discussions to reach a trade agreement, which acquired a formal tone during the first EU-Latin America Summit in 1999.
Since then, negotiations continued and then became stagnant for several years, until the possibility of an agreement took force in 2014.
