São Paulo – Relations with the Arab countries were mentioned by Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in his speech at the plenary session of the Summit of Presidents of Mercosur Member and Associate States on Monday (8) in Assunción, Paraguay.
Lula spoke of the latest results and measures of the bloc, including the launch of talks for a free trade agreement between Mercosur and the United Arab Emirates and the Brazil’s ratification of the free trade agreement with Palestine on July 3.
“Under the leadership of President Santiago Penã, a negotiation process with the UAE has been launched,” said Lula. Peña, president of Paraguay, has held the pro-tempore presidency of Mercosur since last December, when he took the office from Lula. Brazil held the presidency of the regional bloc from July-December 2023.
A formalization of the beginning of negotiations for a Mercosur-UAE agreement is expected to take place during the summit. The first round of negotiations between the parties took place last month in Paraguay, resulting in a term of reference for the agreement, according to the Brazilian government.
Palestine
“We’re proud to be the first country in the bloc to ratify the Free Trade Agreement with Palestine, but I can only regret it comes in a moment when the Palestinian people suffers from the consequences of an entirely unreasonable war,” said Lula on Palestine, another Arab country he mentioned in his speech.
Brazil deposited its instrument ratifying the Mercosur-Palestine free trade agreement, causing it to enter into force between the two countries within thirty days, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The state of Palestine had previously deposited its ratification instrument on April 30. Palestine-Mercosur agreement had been signed on December 20, 2011.
For the other Mercosur members – Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay – the instrument will only come into force thirty days following the receipts of their own ratification deposits, when they occur. According to the ministry, it’s a goods market opening agreement, with a further-developments clause on potential understandings down the road on accessing services and investment markets.
Global and regional agendas
In his speech, Lula also spoke other regional and global issues, like recent moves for the defense of democracy in Bolivia, which has become a member of the Mercosur at this summit, the relevance of cooperation between neighboring countries through the South American bloc, challenges of the energy and climate crisis, the unachieved agreement with the European Union, the expectation to deepen talks with China, the fight against hunger, Brazil’s presidency of G20, the climate tragedy in southernmost state Rio Grande do Sul, the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, and elections in France.
Read more:
Brazil-Palestine agreement to enter into force
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
