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On 23 April 2015, EFTA announced that a delegation from the EFTA Parliamentary Committee visited Brazil from 15 to 17 April 2015 to support stronger trade relations between MERCOSUR and EFTA. The delegation met with the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and representatives of the Brazilian Parliament and business community. The announcement stated: The main purpose of the visit by parliamentarians from the EFTA countries was to support the EFTA-MERCOSUR trade dialogue, as well as to strengthen its parliamentary dimension. Brazil is the largest economy in Latin America and currently holds the presidency of MERCOSUR, whose Member States also include Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela. EFTA and MERCOSUR launched a trade dialogue 15 years ago, which was recently strengthened by a Joint Committee meeting in March 2015. MERCOSUR is EFTA’s most important trading partner in Latin America, and trade and investments between EFTA and MERCOSUR have increased progressively over the last decade. For the EFTA States, it is important to develop this relationship further. The EFTA Parliamentary Committee is a forum for parliamentarians from the four Member States: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. The Committee follows issues related to EFTA’s third-country relations and other aspects of free trade, such as sustainable development policies in free trade agreements. |
