RIO DE JANEIRO, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Trade negotiations between the Common Market of the South (Mercosur) and the European Union (EU) will be resumed after the upcoming Paraguayan presidential election, Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota said Thursday.

There are clear political and commercial interests between the two trade blocs, and new offers are to be presented by the end of the year, the minister noted.

Brazil, together with Argentina and Spain, has been actively pushing for the resumption of Mercosur-EU trade talks, which came to a halt in 2010 due to disputes over European farm subsidies and moves by Brazil and Argentina to shield local industries from cheaper, foreign-made imports.

Patriota, however, stressed that any progress of the talks would depend on the EU's willingness to consider Mercosur countries' demands. He also refrained from establishing a deadline for the completion of an agreement.

Mercosur groups Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela, but it has suspended Paraguay's membership since last June, after its parliament impeached then President Fernando Lugo in a move denounced by other Mercosur countries as a coup.

Germany's ambassador to Paraguay, Claude Robert Ellner, warned in February that the EU would sign no trade deal with Mercosur without Paraguay's participation.

The South American trade bloc is expected to lift Paraguay's suspension after Paraguay holds a presidential election on April 21. Representatives of the bloc will observe the process.

April 5, 2013

Source: Xinhua

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