FRANKFURT: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on Wednesday for a rapid conclusion to longstanding negotiations on an EU trade deal with South America's Mercosur bloc that faces fierce French opposition. The negotiations "should now be finalised quickly" Scholz said in a speech in Berlin to Germany's BGA wholesale and foreign trade association.
Technical discussions on the free trade pact "are well advanced", he said, adding that "the vast majority of EU member states also support the agreement politically". "We need pragmatism and flexibility on all sides for the final metres of the negotiations, because the Mercosur agreement is groundbreaking for diversifying and strengthening the resilience of our economy," said Scholz, who met with French President Emmanuel Macron in Berlin on Wednesday.
The 27-member European Union and Mercosur countries Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay have been in talks for over two decades on creating a massive free trade zone that would cover more than 700 million people. — AFP
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