3 16 China , theEUandLatinAmerica:CurrentIssuesandFutureCooperation intotherelationship , withaseriesofhighlevelvisitsandmeetingsatworkinglevel. AttheEUMERCOSURsummitinLimain May2008 , thepartiesconfirmed “ the importanceofreachinganambitiousandbalancedAssociationAgreementandtheir commitmenttocarrynegotiationsthroughtoasuccessfulconclusion ”, adding “ as conditionspermit ” .Similarannouncementsweremadebeforeandafter.TheEUhas beenfrustratedthataftersuchhighlevelcommitments , noprogresswasvisiblewhen negotiatorsmetagain.Itremainstobeseenwhetherthenewcommitmentsmadeatthe IVEUMERCOSURSummiton17 May2010in Madridwillfinallyleadtonew advances ( EUCouncildoc.9870 / 10 ) . Thetaskofthepresentchapterisnottodealwiththethornyissueofoverall tradenegotiationsaimedatbiregionalfreetrade.However , someaspectsofthe tradeissue mustbeoutlinedtobetterunderstandthepossibleevolutionof biregionalcooperation.MERCOSUR ranksonlyeighthamong EU trading partners , withjust2.7percentoftotalEUtrade , whereastheEUaccountsfor 27percentofMERCOSURsexportsand20percentofitsimports. 2 EvenBrazil isonlytheEUseleventhlargestmarket.AggregateEUinvestment , however , exceedsEUstocksinChina , IndiaorevenJapan.EUinvestmentstandsoutin nonprimarysectorsandisthereforecontributingmoretolocaladdedvalueand jobs.SixtypercentofFDIisrelatedtoservices.Asamajorsourceoftrade relatedassistance , theEUreinforcesthecompetitivenessofitscompetitors ( EU Councildoc.8695 / 09 ) .The negotiation problemsindicatea NorthSouth cleavage.TheEU wantsacomprehensiveagreementwithresultsexceeding thosetobereachedonthe multilaterallevel — a “ Dohaplus ” .Otherwise , additionalandparallelnegotiationsonasubDoha , biregionallevelwouldnot makemuchsense.LeadingCommissionfiguresaskedpubliclyin2007whether anEUofferaslargeastheonemadeatthemultilaterallevelcouldreallybe expectedinthisbiregionalcontext.Servicesrepresent70percentofGDPand jobsintheEU , whichthushasanunderstandableinterestinfreetradeinthis area.InMERCOSUR , theyrepresentlessthan20percent.Itwascalculated thataFreeTradeAgreement ( FTA ) wouldaddEUR57billiontoservices ; the costofafailuretoreachagreementisoverEUR5billion , andnearlyEUR4 billioningoods. InnegotiationswiththeEU , MERCOSURfocusesonagriculturalproducts , andrelatedsubsidies.Understandably , thereareclearreasons — notalways economicones — whyagricultureplayssuch adecisiverole.Butitis worth stressingthattheEUisMERCOSURsprimarymarketforagriculturalexports. Thereisawisesayinginbusinessthatyoudonotinsultyourbestclient.Inthe
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