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EAEU, Mercosur to discuss free trade agreement

The trade turnover between member-states of the EAEU and Mercosur surged by 8% in January-September period of 2018

MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/. The Southern Common Market (Mercosur) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) may start consultations on potential free trade agreement in the future, the press service of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) said in a statement with reference to Uruguay’s Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa on Tuesday.

"Foreign Minister of Uruguay expressed hope for further close cooperation between the integrations. He suggested that the possibility of reaching a free trade agreement be considered in the future," the statement said.

On December, the EAEU and Mercosur in Montevideo (Uruguay) concluded a memorandum on trade and economic cooperation. The document was signed by Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) Trade Minister Veronika Nikishina and foreign ministers of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

According to Nikishina, the trade turnover between member-states of the EAEU and Mercosur surged by 8% in January-September period of 2018 year-on-year to $6.2 bln.

"That is not much, of course, and is due to a conservative structure of mutual trade, which mainly consists of commodities and food items. Without reducing the existing trade flows, it is necessary to look for ways of expanding cooperation in such areas as machine building, equipment production, electronic engineering, agriculture equipment," Nikishina was quoted as saying.

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