For the EU, priority is given to the conclusion of an agreement with Mercosur – Telam

Swedish Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said that the conclusion of the negotiation of a trade badociation agreement with Mercosur was the "number one priority" of the bloc of the EU.

"It would be a great loss if we did not get it, I'm going to spend all my time there," added the commissioner, who hopes to end the deal before December 31, the end date. of the mandate of the current European Commission, the executive body of the EU.

"I think there is a window to close it during this commission, it's my number one priority," Malmström said at a conference on EU trade policy in Brussels.

Last week, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said that the agreement with the EU was "imminent" after two decades of negotiations.

"We touched on many items in April," Malmström said in statements quoted by the Efe News Agency and other international news.

In this regard, he affirmed that the EU was "ready to make concessions" to Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), while acknowledging that "complicated problems" remained to be solved, especially in areas such as agriculture, subsidized by the European bloc.

Malmström asked "to show the world that the EU and a part of Latin America are willing to conclude a free trade agreement".