Negotiators and ministers from the EU and Mercosur held a series of meetings this month in Brussels, Belgium, to take stock of their efforts to develop a trade accord, along with whether they should set a new target date for wrapping up the talks before the end of 2018. The meetings were held on the sidelines of a separate ministerial meeting between the EU and the CELAC countries, with the latter acronym referring to the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. CELAC is a regional bloc of 33 countries spanning from Mexico in North America to Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean. The EU-CELAC meeting also touched on trade, as well as various other areas of inter-regional cooperation. Negotiators working on the EU-Mercosur accord had previously met in Montevideo, Uruguay, in June with a view to advance technical work. Prior to the latest meetings in Brussels, EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan had ruled out the possibility of the two sides announcing an agreed outcome this month. (See Bridges Weekly, 14 June 2018 ) The EU-CELAC meetings, meanwhile, led to a joint declaration entitled “Building bridges and strengthening our partnership to face global challenges” that included references...