SANTIAGO: Argentina and Brazil need to open up to European goods and push ahead with the long-stalled Mercosur free-trade talks, the European Union's trade chief said on Saturday before EU and Latin American leaders meet to try to break the deadlock.
A free-trade deal with the South American trade bloc Mercosur, made up of Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Uruguay and Paraguay, would be a major prize for Europe as it tries to emerge from three years of economic crisis.
But negotiations that started 18 years ago and were relaunched in 2010 have yet to make real progress.
In that time, Brussels has signed free-trade deals from Mexico to Chile, revealing a split in Latin America between free-traders on the Pacific and the more closed economies of the Atlantic.
EU leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel meeting in Santiago for a two-day summit hope to discuss the issue with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez and Brazil's Dilma Rousseff. EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, who is also in Santiago, said now was the time to act.
"We need to bring the negotiations with the Mercosur countries to a conclusion," De Gucht said in a speech at the summit, a copy of which was distributed prior to his address. "It is no secret that Europe would like to have made more progress in these talks by now."
Copyright Reuters, 2010