Mercosur

The BDI welcomes efforts to promote regional economic integration in Latin America and supports the EU negotiations for trade agreements with individual states or regional groupings.

At the EU-Latin America summit 2009 in Madrid, the resumption of negotiations for a free trade agreement between Mercosur and the EU was announced. A successful deal between the 27 EU member states and the four Mercosur states (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay) would create one of the biggest free trade areas in the world, encompassing around 700 million people. Negotiations have been ongoing since 1999 but were suspended in 2004.

The EU has already signed free trade agreements with both Mexico and Chile. The 2010 EU-LAC summit also saw the successful conclusion of negotiations for an association and free trade agreement with the Central American states (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama as an observer). Additionally the EU has concluded a multi-party agreement with the Andean nations Peru, Columbia and Ecuador.