Third Round of Negotiations Between MERCOSUR and the United Arab Emirates Concludes With Significant Progress

The Third Round of Negotiations between MERCOSUR and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), held in the city of Montevideo, concluded today with significant progress, according to a statement from the Paraguayan delegation, which is leading this negotiating process.

The meetings began on October 28 and brought together more than 50 expert negotiators from the delegations of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and the United Arab Emirates. Intense negotiation sessions were held across technical working groups on Market Access for Goods, Rules of Origin, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Technical Barriers to Trade, Services, and Legal Affairs.

In this regard, the chief negotiators agreed on a favorable outlook for the eventual signing of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and committed to continuing their working sessions to finalize the outstanding issues, with the goal of concluding the negotiations in the near future.

The Paraguayan delegation, which leads the negotiations, led MERCOSUR’s work. It was headed by Chief Negotiator and Vice Minister of Economic Relations and Integration, Patricia Frutos Ruíz, accompanied by the Director General of Economic Policy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alberto Caballero, and representatives from other institutions.

The other MERCOSUR delegations were led by Counselor Verónica López Gilli (Argentine Republic), Ambassador Philip Fox Drummond Gough (Federative Republic of Brazil), and Ambassador Alejandro Mernies and Minister Counselor Paola Repetto (Oriental Republic of Uruguay). The delegation of the United Arab Emirates was led by Chief Negotiator Juma Al Kait, Assistant Undersecretary for Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Economy.