Asunción, Agencia IP.- The Industrial Union of Paraguay (UIP) views the trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union as a window of opportunity to produce export-oriented manufactured goods.
The association’s president, Enrique Duarte, stated that the possibility of obtaining exceptions and tariff facilities creates an opportunity for the industrial sector to access high-value markets.
«Now we have to do the work to adapt our production to meet the needs of those markets,» he said in an interview with Paraguayan National Radio.
The signing of the agreement between the two blocs will take place on January 17 in Asunción; however, approvals by the European Parliament and the Mercosur countries are still pending, along with regulatory adjustments before the agreement enters into force.
«We must take advantage of this time to prepare our industries. This preparation includes attracting local investment and investment from European countries to acquire technological capacity in this industrialization process,» Duarte explained.
As a member of Mercosur, Paraguay will compete with other bloc members to capture new markets as they open. Therefore, it is necessary to «create the conditions in terms of human capital and technological capabilities to produce more efficiently.»
Signing of the Mercosur-EU agreement
This Saturday, January 17, the official signing of the most significant trade agreement in history will take place in Asunción. The document concludes more than 20 years of negotiations. It links two regions with more than 700 million inhabitants, each with a per capita GDP of USD 34,000, through chapters covering various product types.
With the agreement, EU exports to Mercosur are expected to increase by nearly EUR 50 billion by 2040. Likewise, Mercosur exports to the European bloc are expected to rise to EUR 9 billion.