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CAN-Argentina negotiations
virtually concluded
Lima, 1st April. Andean Community
Secretary General, Sebastian
Alegrett, reported that "negotiations
for a Tariff Preferences Agreement
between the Andean Community and
Argentina had virtually concluded,
the only pending matter being a
small number of products of
interest to Venezuela".
The
negotiations came to an end at the
meeting held in Buenos Aires
between March 27th and 31st, which
was attended by the delegation of
Argentina, chaired by Norberto
Iannelli, Deputy Secretary of
American Economic Integration, and
the Andean Community delegation
chaired by Eduardo Ortiz Bucarán,
Venezuelan Vice-Minister of Trade.
Alegrett
stated that he was fully confident
that "the pending issue would be
solved within less than two weeks",
given that, as recorded in the
Minutes, both parties had agreed
to broach the subject in Guatemala
on April 12th or 13th at the
Meeting of the Alca Trade
Negotiations Committee.
He
explained that a consensus had
been reached at the Buenos Aires
meeting regarding the text of the
regulatory part of the Preferences
Agreement and that the
negotiations for all products of
interest to the Andean Community
had concluded, with the exception
of the small group of products of
interest to Venezuela.
He
also reported that in order to
guarantee current business trends
and until such time as the new
agreement is implemented,
Argentina and Andean Community
countries had agreed to extend,
for a further sixty days, the
bilateral agreements currently in
force under the framework of Aladi.
Alegrett
recalled that Argentina was the
second Mercosur country with which
the Andean Community had reached a
Tariff Preferences Agreement. This
was an important step towards the
creation of a free trade zone
between both sub-regional groups
to be negotiated in the near
future.
He
revealed that Paraguay and
Uruguay, both member countries of
Mercosur, had expressed their
interest in negotiating a
preferences agreement similar to
those of Brazil and Argentina.
The
Framework Agreement for the
creation of a Free Trade Zone
between the Andean Community
signed in April 1998, considered
the development of two stages of
negotiations: a Fixed Preferences
Agreement would be negotiated in
stage one and a Free Trade
Agreement in stage two.
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