Isaura Daniel
São Paulo – Paraguay, one of the countries integrating the Mercosur, is interested in including cattle beef in the free trade accord the bloc is negotiating with Egypt. This information was provided to ANBA yesterday (27) by the Foreign Trade and Integration director of the Paraguayan Foreign Relations Ministry, Raúl Cano Ricciardi.
In the beginning of June, during the Mercosur summit in Puerto Iguazú, Argentina, the group, which includes Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina, signed a framework agreement marking the beginning of negotiations for a trade preference treaty with the Arab countries. Discussions regarding products to be included in the accord have not yet begun.
Like Paraguay, the other nations in the bloc also sell cattle beef to Egypt and may be interested in tariff reductions. On August 18 and 19 there should be a meeting between Mercosur technicians, in Brazil, to discuss the trade accords the bloc is discussing.
According to Ricciardi, inclusion of tropical juices in the list would also be interesting to the country, as it produces such juices. Paraguayan shipping to the Arab countries is still small, but the country is interested in increasing trade with the region.
The Middle East and North Africa total less than 2% of Paraguayan export revenue. Brazil answers to around 60% of country foreign trade, which totalled US$ 1.1 billion last year. Argentina is the second largest buyer, with 10%, and Uruguay is the third, with 2%.
The items that Paraguay exports most are cattle beef and its derivatives, soy in seed, ground, and oil, tropical juices, and wood furniture. The country intention, however, is to diversify the export basket and destinations, and to increase export revenues by 30% this year.
"Our growth model is geared to export," stated Ricciardi. The target is to export over US$ 1.4 billion in 2004.
For this purpose, the country is betting on the growth of trade relations between developing nations. "North-South relations have not been at their best. It is time to invest in South-South relations," stated Ricciardi.
Treaties with the Gulf and Morocco
Apart from Egypt, Morocco and the Gulf Cooperation Council have also asked for the beginning of negotiations for free trade agreements with the Mercosur.
Morocco received the positive signal from the South American bloc during the summit in Puerto Iguazú, but the Gulf countries have not yet received a positive answer from the South American bloc.
The Economic Integration director prefers to await the result of negotiations to give his opinion regarding possible treaties with the Gulf and Morocco, but he said that he believed in trade agreements as a way to intensify relations with the region. "When there are tariff reductions, there is stimulation of the trade flow and of contact between businessmen," he stated.
Nowadays, half the Paraguayan Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is due to the service sector. Agribusiness answers to 34% and industry to 16%. The country has been trying to increase industrial participation in the domestic economy, increasing production and export of industrialized products.
