MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil speeds trade agreement with Palestine in the framework of Mercosur

The latest Mercosur summit took place this week in Asunción, Paraguay when the rotating six month presidential chair went to Uruguay.

This week Brazil deposited its instrument of ratification of the Free Trade Agreement between Mercosur and Palestine, which means the treaty is to come into force, between Brazil and the Palestine Administration, in thirty days. The instrument was deposited at last moment to Mercosur member Paraguay on July 3, when this country was still chair of the South American trade block. The information was released by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations. The following day the rotating presidency of Mercosur was handed to Uruguay.

Since Palestine had deposited its own ratification on April 30, the agreement will now come into force between the two countries. 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 and if they occur. In Argentina, president Javier Milei is clearly aligned with Israel and in Uruguay a general elections will be held next October and the Israel/Palestine conflict is highly sensitive.

The agreement between Palestine and Mercosur was signed on December 20, 2011, (Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay under governments at the time sympathizers with Palestine). According to the Brazilian ministry, it is a goods market opening agreement, with a further-developments clause on potential understandings down the road on accessing services and investment markets.

Brazil added the agreement deals on trade in goods; rules of origin; Brazilian safeguards; technical regulations, standards, conformity procedures, sanitary and phytosanitary measures; technical and technological cooperation; institutional and dispute settlement provisions.

According to the ministry, the agreement is a tangible contribution towards an economically sound Palestinian state that can coexist peacefully and harmoniously with its neighboring countries and strengthens the normative framework for expanding trade between the Mercosur and Middle East states. Of all the Arab world, Mercosur has only had a free trade agreement with Egypt since 2017, but Brazil has a significant trade with Arab countries..

The current information was released by ANBA, Brazil/Arab News Agency, but it must also be remembered that Brazil, Argentina and associate member Chile, have very strong Palestine and Arab communities. Argentina had a president of Syrian origin Carlos Menem, Brazil of Lebanese origin Michel Temer and Sao Paulo is considered the second largest Syrian city in the world demographically