Free trade agreement with Mercosur states could still come in 2024
Published: Thursday, Jan 18th 2024, 18:30
Updated At: Thursday, Jan 18th 2024, 18:31
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The free trade agreement between the EFTA states - including Switzerland - and South America's Mercosur trading bloc, which has been planned for years, could still be concluded in 2024. This was stated by Economics Minister Guy Parmelin on the fringes of the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Thursday.
The Mercosur states of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay are ready for a deal, said Parmelin after a meeting with Argentinian Foreign Minister Diana Mondino in Davos GR. However, the South Americans would first want to finalize negotiations with the EU.
In the EU, the agreement has been reached in principle, although technical details were recently fine-tuned. And new conditions were added.
If the negotiations with the EU were to be blocked after all, the Mercosur states would also be prepared to continue negotiations with the EFTA countries Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, according to Parmelin. In an "optimistic scenario", he considered a conclusion possible by the end of the current year.
With the agreement, the Mercosur states want to partially or completely eliminate customs duties on industrial goods. Swiss industry has been calling for an agreement with the EU for years so that domestic companies are not disadvantaged.
Agreement already announced in 2019
In August 2019, Economics Minister Guy Parmelin declared in Buenos Aires that Switzerland had agreed on a trade agreement with the Mercosur bloc of states in the EFTA grouping. According to the original timetable, the agreement was to be finalized in the same year.
The coronavirus crisis initially caused delays. However, it was mainly differences of opinion between the contracting parties that prevented a deal from being reached. Controversial rules of origin were one of the issues.
Like EFTA, Brussels had also reached an agreement in principle several years ago. However, the EU Parliament and many member states made it clear that they did not want to accept the treaty in its current form, as it lacked binding commitments on environmental and social standards and the protection of human rights.
Parmelin also announced in Davos that a free trade agreement with Vietnam was about to be concluded. For this step, Switzerland and President Viola Amherd were invited to visit the Southeast Asian country. The exact date has not yet been set.
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