Asunción, Agencia IP.- During the Mercosur Heads of State Summit held in Asunción, Paraguay expressed its disagreement with the distribution of export quotas following the entry into force of the interim agreement with the European Union.
President Santiago Peña, opening his remarks as the event’s host, stated that the initial measures under the agreement left the country with «a bitter taste in the implementation of the agreement.»
«Without justice, there can be no Mercosur, no integration, no genuine friendship among us. We showed flexibility by supporting the agreement’s closure, and Paraguay made the greatest concessions on positions resulting from negotiations conducted by the previous government, which we accepted. This is exactly what I am asking for today,» said the president.
After the summit, at a press conference, Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez explained that the point under negotiation concerns export quotas for chilled beef, frozen beef, and rice, all three products produced in all four Mercosur member countries.
The agreement states that the European Union grants a zero-tariff export quota. This year, the meat quota is 6,000 tons. «We want the distribution to be equal parts, and so far we have not reached an agreement on a fair and balanced allocation,» the minister said.
In the absence of a distribution agreement, and since the European Union allocates the quota to the bloc as a whole, the first country to complete a sale secures the available zero-tariff quota for the year.
The Paraguayan foreign minister stated that this situation could undermine competitiveness and the prices ultimately agreed upon. «Instead of being beneficial due to the elimination of tariffs, it becomes a matter of negotiation,” he said.
«Considering that the other countries already have guaranteed quotas under the Hilton Quota (for premium beef), where Paraguay has only 1,000 tons, we are seeking a balanced and equitable distribution of these preferences,» he concluded.