China open to “cooperation” with Mercosur as a whole while advancing in FTA with Uruguay

The director general for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Cai Wei, stated in Montevideo that Beijing, which has begun negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Uruguay, is open to the “cooperation” with “the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) as a whole”.

“The Chinese side is open to cooperation both with Mercosur as a whole and with the particular member country (Uruguay)”said the head of an official Chinese delegation that met with members of the cabinet of Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou, including Foreign Minister Francisco Bustillo and Economy Minister Azucena Arbeleche.

“China is a staunch supporter of free trade” and it is “willing to negotiate and sign FTAs ​​with all interested countries”the Chinese leader abounded, according to the official translation of his statement to the press published in video on the website of the Uruguayan Presidency.

Uruguay began negotiations for an FTA with China after both countries carried out a feasibility study for such an agreement, which generated controversy in Mercosur, a bloc that the southern country has been part of since 1991 with Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.

The bloc does not allow its partners to negotiate trade agreements without the consent of the other members, but Uruguay, which for almost two decades has been asking for a relaxation of that decision adopted by the group, decided to go it alone with China.

At the last summit of Mercosur presidents held last Thursday in Asunción, Argentine President Alberto Fernández, one of the main critics of the Uruguayan initiative, proposed that the agreement with China be negotiated by the entire group as a whole.

His Uruguayan counterpart, Lacalle Pou, maintained during the meeting of presidents that it would also be Uruguay’s wish that the other partners of the block join a negotiation with the Asian giant, in later stages.

“We hope and predict that at some point the rest of the partner countries (of Mercosur) will join these negotiations” with China, Bustillo reiterated this Monday in images broadcast by local media.

“We hope that the Mercosur parties can negotiate amicably with each other, in order to create a better environment for Sino-Uruguayan free trade cooperation”launched for his part the leader of the Chinese delegation.