EU, Latin American Countries Move to Deepen Trade Ties

Efforts on behalf of the EU and Mexico to modernise a sixteen-year old free trade agreement have been ramped up, following a phone call between EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström and Mexican Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo Villareal last week. Under the new plans, additional negotiating rounds have been scheduled for April and June and the leaders have agreed to convene in Mexico City between the two sessions to monitor progress. "We will take our trade relations fully into the 21st century. We will be able to boost growth, making our firms more competitive and widening choices for consumers while creating jobs,” said the two trade officials in a joint statement issued following their phone call. “We are already well underway in our joint efforts to deepen openness to trade on both sides. Now, we will accelerate the pace of these talks in order to reap the benefits sooner," they added. The existing agreement, which entered into force in October 2000, aims to strengthen economic ties between the two trading partners, eliminating barriers to trade and creating a stable operating environment for trade and investment. Today, the EU is Mexico's third-largest trading partner after the US and China, where the annual...