Smith Speaks Of "Meeting Of Minds" At Inaugural Cer-Mercosur Ministerial Talks

International Trade Minister Lockwood Smith says there has been a meeting of minds on trade liberalisation at the inaugural CER-Mercosur ministerial trade talks in Rio de Janeiro.

The talks brought together the Closer Economic Relations (CER) partners, Australia and New Zealand, and members of Mercosur, the giant South American trade bloc linking Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Mercosur countries have a combined population of more than 200 million and a collective GDP of more than a trillion dollars. The talks were aimed at fostering links between CER and Mercosur.

Dr Smith, who described the talks as "a great success", said there had been a meeting of minds on the approach to many trade liberalisation issues, including the liberalisation of global agricultural trade.

"Our meeting here in Rio de Janeiro showed how well Mercosur and CER can work together on a range of global and regional trade issues.

"We have some good allies here on agriculture. The agricultural sector is vitally important in most of our countries and it was good to confirm that our approaches to agricultural trade liberalisation are remarkably similiar," Dr Smith said.

The minister also said he was able to table the results of work on customs facilitation and the possible scope for education cooperation.

"I invited Mercosur to come to New Zealand and Australia to help underpin the important strides being made in marketing New Zealand educational services in Latin America.

"We have also agreed to start work on investment, to enhance linkages with the business community and to begin work on tourism cooperation. Each of these initiatives is designed to maximise business potential at the same time that government-to-government relations are growing steadily closer," Dr Smith said.

The CER and Mercosur countries are to meet again in Uruguay in December.