SACU - MERCOSUR 12th Round Of Negotiations, 17th April 2008. Buenos Aires, Argentina
SACU and MERCOSUR met on 17 and 18 April 2008 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the 12th Round of Negotiations.
SACU concluded and signed a Preferential Trade Agreement with MERCOSUR, which was signed by SACU and MERCOSUR Ministers at a ceremony in December 2004. The agreement included an in-built agenda to continue negotiations on a number of issues, including rules of origin, SPS and specific requests for additional trade preferences for specific products on both sides.
Most of the outstanding issues were resolved during the meeting of the 17th April 2008. However, a few issues remained unresolved and were dealt with by the coordinators on both sides. As a result, the PTA has been finalized and will be submitted to the next SACU Council of Ministers Meeting, scheduled for the 27th June 2008, for signature.
The agreement is a Preferential Trade Agreement aimed at promoting trade between the two sides on a selected number of products. It contains a 1000 tariff lines on both sides for which preferences will be granted.