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China, the EU and Latin America : current issues and future cooperation
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TradingwithGiants:IsTradePolicywiththeEUandChinaBeneficialtoMERCOSUR? 85 Parliament aSocialInstituteandaPermanentRevisionTribunal. 3.犕犈犚犆犗犛犝犚犪狀犱狋犺犲犈狌狉狅狆犲犪狀犝狀犻狅狀 3.1 PotentialGainsandRisks AlthoughabilateralapproachbetweentheEuropeanUnionandtheLatin AmericancountriesstartedwiththeSanJosémeetingsin1984 itisinthe1990s thatthe European Communityassumeda moreactiveroleinthesearchfor cooperationandassociationagreementswithvariousLatinAmericanintegration processes.Thisinterestcoincidedwiththestrengtheningintegrationprocesses alreadyexistingintheregionand withtheconstitutionofpromisingnew initiatives suchasMERCOSUR.Italsotookplacewithintheframeworkofthe socalled GlobalEuropeanIntegrationModel thatpromotedcountryrelations beyondcommercialconsiderationsandinthedirectionofpoliticaldialogue as wellascooperation. Itis withinthisframeworkthatthe EU and MERCOSUR signedan InterregionalFramework Cooperation Agreementin December1995 in which theyexpressed theirintention to formalise cooperation agreements and to advanceinthenegotiationsinordertoestablishatradepartnershipagreement contemplatingreciprocaltradeliberalisationinaccordancewithGATT Article 24.Itisalsoimportanttonotethatin1995MERCOSURstarteditstransitional processtowardsaCustomsUnionaftertheOuroPretomeeting.Althoughthere wereexpressionsofinterestonthepartoftheEUaboutsigningagreementswith MERCOSURimmediatelyafterthesigningoftheTreatyofAsunción1991 thesigning oftheInterregionalAgreementwasmadepossiblebytheinternationallegalpersonality conferredonMERCOSURbyArticle34oftheProtocolofOuroPerto. Thenegotiationsbetweenthe EU and MERCOSUR startedin 1999 coincidingwithanotherhistoricaleventintheEU theestablishmentofthe MonetaryUnion.Thesenegotiationswerecomplicatedbythefactthatthey involvedtwoCustoms Unions withtheirowninternalconflictsofinterest concerningtheestablishmentofacommontradepolicy andalsobecauseofthe NorthSouthaspect.Althoughtheagreementwasgivenconsiderableemphasis itwasnotthefirstagreementbetweentwoCustom Unions:theEuropean CommunityandtheAndeanCommunityhadalreadyestablishedanarrangement ofsimilarnatureinApril1993. Fromaneconomicpointofview inparticulartradeopportunities the agreementwaspromotedbecausethetwomarketsareimportanttooneanother. TheEuropean Unionisa marketofover490 millionpeople thethird most